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ALBERT  HASTINGS  PITKIN 

Curator  of  Wadsworth  Atheneum  and  Morgan  Memorial  Hartford  Conn. 
Member  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society- 
Member  of  the  Walpole  Society 
Member  of  the  Society  of  Mayflower  Descendants 
in  the  State  of  Connecticut 


HARTFORD    CONNECTICUT 
MDCCCCXVIII 


tlsfVIRON'. 
DESIGN 


COPYRIGHT 

BY 

Mrs.  Albert  Hastings  Pitkin 


This  Edition  is  limited  to  Two  hundred  and  Sixty 
copies  of  which  this  is  No. 


720 


(Eont^ttts 


List  of  Illustrations  (Bennington)    7 

Preface   11 

History  of  the  Bennington  Pottery 15 

Catalogue  of  Bennington  Pottery 50 

Marks  of  Bennington  Pottery 69 

List  of  Illustrations  (Early  American  Folk 

Pottery)    77 

Introduction   79 

Early  American  Folk  Pottery 79 

Catalogue  of  Early  American  Folk  Pottery  115 
Tributes  and  Resolutions  on  the  Death  of 

Mr.  Albert  Hastings  Pitkin    129 

Index    146 


Hiat  of  tl|0  JUuBtrattauB  nf  tl^t 
Sfttntngtnn  Pottery 

No.  I. 

Grave-stone  in  Old  Bennington  Grave- 
yard,   of    Captain   John    Norton,    the 

Pioneer  Potter i6 

No.  2. 

Group  of  Granite  Ware  (left)  and 
Parian  (right)  Water  Pitcher,  First 
Parian  Ware  made  in  the  United  States. 
Marked:  "  United  States  Pottery,  Ben- 
nington, Vt.,"  circa  1846.  Height,  9 
inches. 

Granite  Ware  Water  Pitcher,  Dark  Blue 
under  glaze  and  heavy  Gold  decoration. 

Height,  93^  inches    18 

No.  3. 

Group  of  Pitchers  (from  left  to  right). 
Pitcher,  green,  light  yellow  and  brown. 
Height,  7  inches. 

Pitcher,     light     green     and     yellow. 
Height,  7>4  inches. 


8  LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Pitcher,  dark  brown,  marked:  "  Norton 
and  Fenton,   Bennington,  Vt."  in  a 
circle.       Rockingham.       Height,     8 
Inches. 
Pitcher,  brown  glaze.     Marked:  "Nor- 
ton   and    Fenton,    East   Bennington, 
Vt."  in  two  horizontal  lines.  Height, 
6y2  inches.     Extremely  rare. 
Pitcher,  decoration,  dark  blue,  yellow, 
green,  brown  and  orange.      Mark: 
"  Lyman    and    Fenton,    Bennington, 
Vt.,    1849"  ""i  usual  circular  mark. 
Flint  enamel.    Height,  6  inches.  ...        20 
No.  4. 

Group  of  Flint  Enamel. 

Pitcher,  brown  glaze,  reeded.  Im- 
pressed mark  in  a  circle,  "  Norton 
and  Fenton,  Bennington,  Vt." 
Height,  8  inches. 

Covered    Jar,    reeded.      Height,    9 
Inches. 
Pitcher,    dark  brown   Hunting   Scene. 
Flint  enamel.     Height,  7  inches  ...        22 
No.  5. 

Large  Water  Cooler 24 

No.  6. 

Group  of  Flint  Enamel. 

Coffee-pot,     Tea-pot,      Creamer     and 

Sugar  Bowl 26 

No.  7. 

Flint  Enamel  Foot  Bath.  Large  elliptical 

mark.     Diameter,  21  Inches 28 

No.   8. 

Pitcher,     hound    handled.       Decoration, 
Grapes  and  Leaves.     Rockingham. 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Water  Pitcher.  Flint  enamel,  tortoise- 
shell  decoration.  Signed  "  Lyman, 
Fenton  and  Co.  Fenton's  Enamel, 
Pat.  1849,  Bennington,  Vt."  Height, 
10^  inches. 

Water  Pitcher.  Flint  enamel.  Marked 
in  circular  mark  "  Lyman  &  Fenton, 
Fenton's  Enamel,  Bennington,  Vt." 
Height,  II  inches. 

Little  Covered  Jar.  Reeded.  Tortoise- 
shell.    Height,  7  inches 3^ 

No.  9. 

Lion  on  base.  Flint  enamel.  Mark: 
*'  Lyman,  Fenton  &  Co.  Fenton's 
Enamel.    Pat.  1849.    Bennington,  Vt." 

Lion  not  on  base.  No  mark.  Flint 
enamel. 

Lion  on  base.  Very  curly  mane.  Mark: 
"  Lyman,  Fenton  &  Co.  Fenton's 
Enamel.  Pat.  1849.  Bennington,  Vt." 
Flint  enamel 3^ 

No.  10. 

Deer  on  base.  Flint  enamel.  Height,  11 
inches.  Mark:  "Lyman  Fenton  & 
Co.  Fenton's  Enamel.  Pat.  1849. 
Bennington,  Vt."    34 

No.  II. 

Doe  on  base.  Flint  enamel.  Height,  1 1 
inches.  Mark:  *'  Lyman  Fenton  &  Co. 
Fenton's  Enamel.  Pat.  1849.  Ben- 
nington, Vt." 36 

No.  12. 

Dogs   with   Baskets   of   Flowers.      One, 

Parian   Ware 3^ 


10  LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

No.  13. 

Parian    Pitcher 40 

No.  14. 

Vase.  Scrodled  Ware.  Tulip  shaped. 
Height,  9  inches.  Unusual  piece  in 
Scrodle  Ware 42 

No.  15. 

Child  at  Prayer.     Parian 44 

No.  16. 

Monument  composed  of  various  Benning- 
ton Wares,  exhibited  at  the  New  York 
Crystal  Palace,  in  1853 46 

No.  17. 

Water  Cooler.     Flint  enamel 48 


Pr^fare 


Having  devoted  much  time,  during  the 
past  thirty-five  years,  to  research  work,  and  the 
study  of  Early  American  Potteries,  and  their  out- 
put, I  long  since  concluded  that  the  pottery  estab- 
lished in  the  first  decade  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, at  Old  Bennington,  Vermont,  and  its  suc- 
cessors, was  probably  the  most  important  pottery 
of  New  England,  during  the  first  half  of  that 
century. 

To  the  study  of  this  noted  pottery,  I  have 
given  so  much  time,  obtaining  so  much  historical 
data,  and  so  large  a  Collection,  of  its  most  interest- 
ing productions,  in  great  varieties  of  bodies  and 
glazes,  that  my  dear  friend,  the  late  Dr.  Edwin 
A.  Barber  of  Philadelphia,  the  foremost  ceramist, 
and  the  most  prolific  author  on  the  subject  in  our 
country,  exacted  from  me,  the  promise  that  I 
would  cause  to  be  published  the  information  which 
I  had  obtained,  relative  to  this  Pottery. 

I  offer  this  explanation  as  my  reason  for 
presenting  this  work  to  the  public. 


My  principal  sources  of  information  have 
been  the  potters,  themselves,  those  zvho  worked  at 
this  pottery,  of  whom  only  a  few  are  now  living. 

When  one  realizes  that  the  Bennington 
Pottery  has  now  been  closed  nearly  sixty  years, 
and  that  the  men  employed  there  would  be  seventy- 
five,  or  more,  years  old,  one  can  readily  perceive, 
that,  in  some  instances,  memories  may  have  failed. 
Hence  slight  inaccuracies  may  have  crept  in.  But 
I  have  endeavored  by  a  comparison  of  statements, 
as  given  by  the  different  workmen,  to  as  much  as 
possible  eliminate,  or  correct  such  statements,  if  in 
any  way  conflicting  one  with  another. 

Without  serious  attempts  at  literary  style, 
I  present  these  pages  to  the  reader. 

Albert  Hastings  Pitkin. 

Hartford,  Connecticut, 
September,  19 17. 


®ljf  il|iatorg  of  tl\t  '^mnm^tm  Pottog 


Manufacturing  interests  in  the  United 
States,  previous  to  1800,  were  somewhat  limited 
in  extent  and  variety. 

Among  these  industries,  that  of  the  potter, 
seems  to  have  been  prominent  and  we  find  records 
of  small  potteries  well  distributed  throughout  New 
England.  These  early  potteries  produced  what 
are  now  called  "  red  wares  "  and  "  stone  wares," 
the  latter  becoming  more  abundant  later  on.  The 
red  wares  were  made  from  common  brick  clay, 
thoroughly  levigated,  fired  at  a  comparatively  low 
temperature,  lead-glazed  and  more  or  less  deco- 
rated, in  colored  slip,  in  a  large  variety  of  forms 
and  sizes  such  as:  —  pitchers,  cups,  mugs,  jugs, 
bottles,  pie-plates,  milk-pans,  jars,  crocks,  bread- 
trays,  and  many  toys  and  shelf  ornaments,  but 
principally  articles  of  utility.  The  stone  wares 
consisted  largely  of  crocks,  jugs,  bottles,  jars,  and 
churns  and  were  salt-glazed. 


1 6    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 


Connecticut  seems  to  have  led  the  other 
New  England  States,  both  in  the  number  of  her 
small  potteries,  and  the  amount  of  their  out-put. 

John  Pierce,  was  bom  in  Wethersfield, 
Connecticut.  He  went  to  Litchfield,  Conn.,  in 
1753,  where  he  established  a  pottery.  He  was 
well-known  as  **  Potter  Pierce." 

David  Norton  left  Durham,  Connecticut, 
and  moved  to  Goshen,  Connecticut  (an  adjoining 
town  to  Litchfield)  about  1752.  John  Norton,  the 
fourth  child  of  David  Norton,  was  born  in 
Goshen,  Connecticut  November  29th,  1758,  and 
married  March  6th,  1782,  Lucretia,  daughter  of 
Capt.  Jonathan  Buel,  of  Litchfield,  Conn.  He  was 
known  as  Captain  John  Norton,  and  as  we  shall 
see,  later  on,  was  "  Bennington's  Pioneer  Potter." 

Capt.  John  Norton  was  with  Capt.  Good- 
win, at  New  York,  in  1776.  Also,  in  the  service 
in  1780.  He  was  one  of  the  selected  guard, 
which  was  stationed  around  the  scaffold  at  the  exe- 
cution of  Major  Andre.  (See  History  of  Goshen, 
for  this  War  Record.) 

In  addition  to  the  potters  mentioned  above, 
was  Jesse  Wadhams,  and  Hervey  Brooks.  These 
constituting  what  I  would  designate  as  the  "  Litch- 
field Group,  of  the  Early  Connecticut  Potters." 

Capt.  John  Norton  and  his  wife,  left 
Goshen,  Conn.,  and  went  to  Williamstown,  Mass., 
and  Luman  Norton,  their  oldest  son,  was  born 
there,  February  9th,  1785.  The  following  Spring, 
they  moved  to  Old  Bennington,  Vermont.     Capt. 


No.   I. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    1 7 


Norton  purchased  land  in  the  south  part  of  the 
town,  comprising  what  is  now  the  Moses  Wilson, 
the  W.  S.  Hinman,  and  the  Charles  Tudor  farms, 
about  a  mile  and  a  quarter,  south  of  the  Old  First 
Church  of  Bennington,  and  he  built  his  pottery, 
opposite  the  spot  where  the  Hinman  house,  now 
stands. 

Five  years  later,  he  built  the  house  standing 
north  of  this  property  which  is  now  occupied  by 
Charles  Tudor  and  which  was  known  for  many 
years,  as  the  *'  Old  Norton  Homestead."  His 
oldest  son,  Luman,  built  the  Hinman  house. 

Capt.  Norton  carried  on  farming,  and 
about  1793,  established  a  Pottery.  The  Captain 
was  nicknamed  "  Potter  Norton." 

From  whom.  Captain  John  Norton  learned 
the  pottery  trade,  has  not  been  accurately  ascer- 
tained, but  there  were  several  potters,  in  Litch- 
field County  (referred  to  above)  in  his  day. 

Presumably,  Capt.  Norton  was  originally  a 
maker  of  what  are  now  known  as  red  wares. 
Every  indication  tends  to  show,  that  in  his  first  pot- 
tery, at  Bennington  only  salt-glazed  stone  ware 
was  produced.  He  made  ordinary  house-hold 
utensils.  Several  pieces  of  this  ware  are  known  to 
be  in  existence.  John  Norton  died  in  1828.  In 
1 83 1,  his  son  Luman,  or  Judge  Norton,  as  he  was 
known,  moved  to  the  present  village  of  Benning- 
ton, and  built  a  pottery  on  the  site  of  the  present 
building.  It  was  about  the  same  size  and  style  of 
architecture.     Here  the  business  was  conducted  on 


1 8    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

a  much  larger  scale,  and  they  manufactured  stone 
ware,  yellow  ware  and  Rockingham,  which  is  a  yel- 
low ware,  spattered  before  firing,  with  a  brown 
clay,  which  gives  it  the  mottled  appearance.  It 
was  first  made  in  England  at  the  Swinton  Pottery, 
on  the  Estate  of  Charles  Marquis,  of  Rocking- 
ham, which  gave  the  name. 

All  this  was  before  the  days  of  traveling 
salesmen.  The  ware  was  packed  into  large  wagons 
built  for  the  purpose.  They  had  high  sides  and 
were  painted  dark  green,  and  in  large  yellow  let- 
ters was  printed  *'  Bennington  Stone  Ware,"  and  in 
much  smaller  letters  "  Norton  Pottery."  It  re- 
quired four  horses  to  draw  these  wagons,  and  that 
they  should  be  perfectly  matched  was  a  subject  of 
much  pride.  These  wagons  went  through  New 
England  and  the  ware  was  sold  at  the  general 
stores.  To  drive  these  teams,  and  sell  this  Ben- 
nington ware,  was  considered  the  best  position,  for 
young  men,  that  the  times  afforded.  It  required 
considerable  versatility  to  be  able  to  handle  four 
horses  over  all  sorts  of  roads,  sell  the  ware,  and 
get  home  safely,  with  the  money.  Very  little  busi- 
ness in  those  days  was  done  through  banks.  In 
suitable  weather  these  young  men  wore  silk  hats, 
in  the  style  that  was  appropriate  at  that  time. 
Among  the  early  drivers  were  Edward  Norton, 
Henry  Hall  (who  was  Governor  Hall's  son), 
George  Rockwood,  and  E.  L.  Nichols. 

In  1839,  Judge  Norton  took  his  son-in- 
law  Christopher  Webber  Fenton,  of  Dorset,  Ver- 


No. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    1 9 

mont,  into  business  with  him.  He  had  previously 
learned  the  pottery  trade,  at  a  red  earthen-ware 
pottery  at  Dorset,  Vermont.  Soon  after,  we  find 
the  firm,  "  Norton  and  Fenton,  Bennington,  Ver- 
mont"  (Mark  i,)  impressed  on  the  octagonal 
pitchers,  of  the  "  single  glaze  "  Rockingham  ware. 
This  mark  also  appears  on  elliptical  form,  on  sim- 
ilar pitchers  (Mark  2). 

A  few  years  later,  we  find  the  mark  "  Nor- 
ton and  Fenton,  East  Bennington,  Vermont " 
( Mark  3 )  showing  that  they  had  moved  to  what  is 
now  the  town  of  Bennington,  which  was  then 
called  "  Algiers  "  in  derision,  by  the  residents  on 
the  Hill. 

About  1828,  Mr.  Fenton  married  Judge 
Luman  Norton's  daughter,  Louisa,  and  Judge 
Norton  had  erected,  on  Pleasant  Street,  the  large 
and  commodious  brick  mansion,  the  west  side  of 
which  was  occupied  by  Mr.  Luman  Norton's 
family,  and  the  east  side  by  that  of  Mr.  Fenton. 
Here,  on  the  adjoining  land,  was  erected  the  first 
down-town  pottery,  and  it  was  conducted,  for  the 
first  years  of  its  existence,  under  the  name  "  Nor- 
ton and  Fenton  "  (Mark  4). 

Christopher  Webber  Fenton  was  bom  in 
Dorset,  Vt.,  in  1806,  where  he  learned  his  trade 
as  a  common  red-ware  potter.  No  record  has  been 
found,  showing  the  date  when  Mr.  Fenton  went  to 
Bennington.  Had  he  done  so  as  soon  as  he  fin- 
ished his  apprenticement  in  Dorset,  he  might  have 
worked  for  Capt.  John  Norton  one  year.     At  the 


20    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

end  of  which  time,  Captain  John  Norton  died,  in 
1828.  From  the  dates  and  ages  given  in  the  Nor- 
ton Family  Records,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  Mr. 
Fenton  first  associated  himself  with  Mr.  Luman 
Norton,  Capt.  John  Norton's  oldest  son,  succeed- 
ing Captain  John  Norton  in  business. 

Later  on,  the  firm  became  Julius  and  Ed- 
ward Norton  and  still  later,  about  1865,  Edward 
and  Lyman  P.  Norton,  then  Edward  Norton  and 
Company,  when  Mr.  C.  W.  Thatcher  became  a 
partner. 

In  1846,  Mr.  Fenton  wished  to  go  into  a 
more  decorative  line  of  ware,  and  Judge  Norton 
did  not  care  to,  but  he  offered  no  objections  to  the 
younger  men  making  the  venture,  and  in  the  north 
wing  of  the  Norton  Pottery,  Mr.  Fenton,  Julius 
Norton,  and  Henry  Hall  started  the  manufacture 
of  Parian  Ware.  This  is  a  hard  porcelain,  and 
took,  its  name  from  the  resemblance  to  Parian 
marble.  They  brought  John  Harrison  from  Eng- 
land to  do  their  first  modeling. 

This  partnership  lasted  but  a  few  years, 
and  Mr.  Fenton  leased  from  the  Nortons  the 
north  wing  of  the  old  Stone  Ware  Pottery  and  was 
in  business  for  himself  alone,  at  which  time  the 
Mark  used  was  "  Fenton's  Works,  Bennington, 
Vermont"  (Mark  5).  During  this  period,  we 
find  the  use  of  this  Mark  on  pieces  of  various 
bodies,  such  as  Rockingham,  Cream  Ware,  Parian 
Ware,  glazed  and  unglazed,  and  these,  in  various 
forms,  and  many  quite  elaborately  ornamented. 


No.  3. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    21 

This,  evidently,  was  an  experimental 
period  with  Mr.  Fenton  and  the  partnership,  with 
the  Norton's,  having  been  severed  by  them,  he  was 
endeavoring  to  produce  as  large  a  variety  of  wares 
as  possible,  in  order  that  he  might  enlist  new 
capital  from  new  partners,  which  he  again  suc- 
ceeded in  doing,  for  a  partnership  was  formed 
with  Alanson  Potter  Lyman  (a  Bennington  law- 
yer), the  firm  name  becoming  "Lyman  and 
Fenton." 

The  Norton's  relinquished  their  interest 
in  this  pottery  in  1 8  8 1 ,  when  it  was  sold  to  Mr.  C. 
W.  Thatcher,  who  now  carried  on  the  business, 
under  the  firm  name,  "  The  Edward  Norton  Co." 
and  on  whose  sign  we  read,  "  Established  in 
1793."  For  several  years  past,  no  pottery  had 
been  made  here,  Mr.  Thatcher  dealing  in  western- 
made  wares. 

Thus  we  have  a  record,  covering  nearly 
one-hundred  years,  of  the  manufacturing  and  sell- 
ing of  Pottery  by  various  members  of  one  branch 
of  the  Norton  Family,  at  Bennington  Center,  East 
Bennington,  and  Bennington,  Vermont. 

Captain  John  Norton  and  his  wife  are 
buried  near  the  Congregational  Church,  in  the  old 
Cemetery  at  Bennington.  From  the  Tablet  we 
read,  *'  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Capt.  John  Nor- 
ton, who  departed  this  Life  August  24th,  1828, 
in  the  70th.  year  of  his  age."     (Plate  No.  i.) 


22    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

Many  pieces  of  the  Norton  Pottery  are  to 
be  found  now,  bearing  the  Firm  names.  These  are 
invariably,  Stone  Ware.  Capt.  John  Norton  may 
have  made  Red  Wares  for  a  few  years,  but  no 
marked  pieces  of  this  have  been  found.  Moreover, 
specimens  of  Red  Ware  are  seldom  seen  in  Ben- 
nington vicinity,  and  brick-work  was  not  often 
seen,  the  local  clay  being  best  adapted  to  the  mak- 
ing of  Stone  Ware.  Mrs.  W.  B.  Walker  has  an 
ink-well  and  several  pieces,  which  were  dug  out  of 
the  ground,  at  the  old  Norton  Pottery,  when  the 
men  were  ploughing.  Mrs.  L.  S.  Norton  has  a  jar, 
which  Tradition  said,  was  one  of  the  first  pieces 
made  at  the  old  Norton  Potter}^  on  the  farm. 
The  Ostrander  family  in  Hoosick,  N.  Y.,  have  a 
similar  piece,  on  the  bottom  of  which  is  written, 
"This  was  made  in  the  old  Norton  Pottery." 

The  earliest  settlements  in  Bennington 
were  in  that  part,  long  known  as  Bennington  Cen- 
ter and  more  recently  called  Old  Bennington.  It 
was  settled  in  1761,  by  the  Robinsons,  Deweys, 
and  other  prominent  families.  From  their  homes 
went  forth  valiant  Christians,  under  whose  leader- 
ship was  enacted  the  memorable  event  of  August 
1 6th,  1777.  This  event  is  commemorated  by  a 
magnificent  shaft,  three  hundred  and  six  feet  in 
height,  standing  at  the  upper  end  of  Monument 
Avenue,  a  little  more  than  a  mile  west  of  the  vil- 
lage. Many  of  the  farms  of  the  early  settlers,  ex- 
tended to  the  present  limits  of  the  village  which 


T^ 


No.  4. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    23 


was  then  known  as  East  Bennington  and  in  deri- 
sion, called  "Algiers." 

Among  the  fine  old  houses  of  Bennington 
Center,  now  standing,  the  most  interesting  is  the 
Robinson  house,  built  in  1796.  It  is  still  in  the 
possession  of  and  occupied  by  a  direct  descendant 
of  its  builder,  Mr.  George  Robinson.  Within  are 
still  many  choice  specimens  of  antique  furniture, 
family  heir-looms  and  veritable  Revolutionary 
relics. 

The  grand  old-style  mansion  which  was 
built  by  Judge  Luman  Norton,  is  also  an  interest- 
ing house.  It  was  built  in  1838.  Mr.  Samuel  Keyes 
contracted  for  the  masonry  at  a  cost  of  eight  hun- 
dred dollars  ($800.00).  Later,  when  Mr.  Keyes 
built  the  kilns  for  the  United  States  Pottery  he 
remarked  that  each  kiln  required  more  bricks  than 
did  that  large  mansion  which  leads  us  to  believe 
that  the  kilns  were  large  ones  for  that  date. 

There  is  conclusive  evidence  that  Mr. 
Fenton  was  associated  with  Mr.  Norton,  in  the 
early  part  of  Mr.  Fenton's  career  in  Bennington. 
Stone  Ware  jugs  and  crocks  are  often  found 
marked  "  Norton  and  Fenton,  Bennington,  Ver- 
mont." There  is  a  fine  large  water  pitcher,  hexago- 
nal in  shape,  on  each  panel  a  floral  design,  in  re- 
lief. This  pitcher  has  a  dark  brown  glaze,  is  of 
a  cream  colored  pottery  body  and  bears  on  the 
under  side  the  Mark  "  Norton  and  Fenton,  Ben- 
nington, Vermont."  This  is  in  the  Pitkin  Collec- 
tion.   A  companion  pitcher,  in  circular  form  bear- 


24    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 


ing  the  same  mark,  may  be  seen  at  Pennsylvania 
Museum. 

So  far  as  has  been  ascertained  the  firm 
known  as  Norton  and  Fenton  made  nothing  but 
Stone  Ware  and  brown-glazed  pottery. 

About  1845,  when  we  find  Mr.  Fenton 
alone  in  the  business  as  is  shown  by  the  mark 
"  Fenton's  Works,  Bennington,  Vermont  "  (Mark 
5) .  It  is  found  on  Rockingham  ware,  Parian,  and 
pottery  of  a  yellow  body. 

About  this  time,  in  1845,  was  produced 
the  first  Parian  ware,  made  in  the  United  States, 
which  was  only  three  years  after  its  first  appear- 
ance in  England. 

A  Parian  pitcher  bearing  this  mark  is  in 
the  Pitkin  Collection,  in  the  Morgan  Memorial  at 
Hartford,  Connecticut.  The  Rockingham  piece, 
in  the  Pitkin  Collection,  so  marked,  is  an  octagonal 
water-cooler,  of  yellow  body  mottled  in  light 
brown.  In  the  same  Collection  is  also  a  beautiful 
sugar  bowl,  elaborately  decorated  with  vines  and 
flower  bearing  the  same  mark. 

We  must  infer,  that  Mr.  Fenton  was  a 
practical  potter,  of  extraordinary  skill,  well-nigh  a 
genius  at  his  trade,  artistic  in  his  tastes,  a  natural- 
ist, something  of  a  chemist,  a  profound  student, 
probably  erratic  and  perhaps  visionary.  He  was 
never  content  to  plod  along  under  moderate  suc- 
cess but  must  needs  pull  down  and  build  larger, 
thereby  exhausting  capital  and  presumably,  the 
patience  of  his  partners.    On  the  whole  a  far  bet- 


No.  5. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    25 


ter  potter  than  financier,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  fre- 
quent and  numerous  changes  in  the  partnerships 
of  which  he  was  a  member. 

Presumably  much  elated  over  his  success 
shown  in  his  early  productions  in  Parian,  Rocking- 
ham and  other  wares,  he  was  enabled  thereby,  to 
interest  Bennington  gentlemen,  securing  their  co- 
operation, as  capitalists  and  formed  the  partner- 
ship of  "  Messrs.  Christopher  Webber  Fenton, 
Henry  D.  Hall  and  Julius  Norton,  in  1846." 

They  produced  yellow,  Parian  and  Rock- 
ingham wares,  still  occupying  a  part  of  the  Old 
Stone  Ware  shop  of  the  Ts'orton's.  Mr.  Hall  re- 
mained In  the  firm  only  a  short  time.  Next,  Mr. 
Norton  withdrew.  The  firm  then  became  "  Lyman 
and  Fenton,"  with  the  admission  of  Mr.  Alanson 
Potter  Lyman,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Bennington. 

Soon  after  this,  Mr.  Calvin  Park  took  an 
interest  and  the  firm  name  was  known  as  "  Lyman, 
Fenton  and  Park."  Mr.  Park  remained  a  partner 
but  a  short  time. 

During  this  period,  November  27th,  1849, 
Mr.  Fenton  obtained  from  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment, the  Patent  for  the  process  of  applying 
colors  to  the  flint-enamelled  wares. 


26    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 


United  States  Patent  Office. 

C.  W.  Fenton  of  Bennington,  Vermont. 

IMPROVEMENT  IN  GLAZING  POTTERY- 

V\^ARE. 

Specification  forming  part  of  Letters  Patent  No. 
6,907,  dated  November  27,  1849. 

To  all  whom  it  may  concern: 

Be  it  known  that  I,  Christopher  W.  Fen- 
ton of  Bennington,  in  the  county  of  Bennington 
and  State  of  Vermont,  have  invented  a  new  and 
useful  improvement  in  the  application  of  colors 
and  glazes  to  all  articles  made  of  potters'  materials 
—  such  as  crockery,  earthern,  and  stone  ware, 
signs  and  door-plates  and  knobs,  picture-frames 
and  architectural  ornaments;  and  I  hereby  declare 
that  the  following  is  a  full  and  true  description 
thereof. 

The  article  to  be  colored  and  glazed,  be- 
ing in  the  usual  state  for  applying  the  glaze,  is 
immersed  in  a  transparent  under-glaze,  then  with 
a  small  box  perforated  with  holes  the  colors  are 
thrown  or  sprinkled  on  through  the  holes  over  the 
surface  of  the  article  in  quantity  to  produce  deeper 
or  lighter  shades,  as  may  be  desired,  leaving  a  part 
of  the  surface  for  the  body  of  the  article  to  show 
through  in  spots.     By  fusion  in  the  kiln  the  colors 


No.  6, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    27 

flow  and  mingle  with  the  under  glaze,  and  are 
carried  about  over  the  surface  in  various  forms, 
and  the  article  is  thereby  made  to  present  a  close 
imitation  of  the  richest  shells,  varigated  stones,  or 
melting  and  running  fluid,  almost  every  variety  of 
rich  and  beautiful  appearance  being  produced  by 
flowing  and  mingling  of  the  colors  with  the  under- 
glaze,  and  the  appearance  of  the  article  being 
varied  according  to  the  complexion  of  the  body  of 
the  article  and  the  colors  and  quantity  thrown 
upon  it. 

The  colors  may  be  applied  to  the  article 
by  other  means  than  that  of  the  perforated  box, 
provided  the  same  effect  is  produced.  What  I 
claim  as  my  invention,  and  desire  to  secure  by 
Letters  Patent,  is  — 

The  coloring  of  the  glaze  of  pottery-ware 
by  the  means  substantially  as  herein  set  forth  and 
described. 

C.  W.  Fenton. 
Witnesses: 

A.  P.  Lyman 
L.  Norton. 

Note  particularly,  that  the  fore-going 
Patent  covered  only  the  coloring  process,  and  not 
the  composition  of  the  flint-enamelled  glaze,  which 
had  previously  been  made  by  Mr.  Fenton  and  co- 
temporaneous  potters,  among  them  the  Bennett 
Brothers  of  Baltimore,  F.  Bagnall  Beach  of  Phila- 
delphia and  others  of  lesser  note. 


28    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

The  mark  used  at  this  time  was  "  Lyman 
Fenton  and  Company.  Fenton's  Enamel.  Pat- 
ented, 1849.  Bennington,  Vermont  "  (Mark  No. 
6).  The  use  of  this  Mark  was  continued  for  sev- 
eral years  on  the  best  examples  of  Rockingham 
ware. 

Shortly  after  this,  another  change  of  part- 
nership occurred,  when  the  United  States  Pottery 
was  formed.  They  occupied  the  building  directly 
across  the  small  stream  from  the  Norton  Stone 
Ware  Works.  Here  was  erected,  what,  for  those 
days,  was  a  very  large  establishment  having  six 
kilns.  These  kilns  were  built  by  Samuel  Keyes  a 
brick  mason,  who  in  previous  years,  did  the 
masonry  w^ork  on  the  double  brick  mansion  of  the 
Nortons,  before  mentioned,  and  Mr.  Anson 
Peeler,  a  master  carpenter,  erected  the  large  and 
suitable  buildings,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  small 
tributary  of  the  Walloomsac  river,  across  the 
stream  from  the  Norton  works.  The  reorganized 
firm  took  the  name  of  the  "  United  States  Pot- 
tery." Among  the  several  capitalists  interested  in 
this  venture  were  Messrs.  Lyman,  Fenton,  Park, 
Gager,  Dr.  Hollis  and  others.  Finer  wares  were 
attempted,  elaborately  decorated  Parian,  white 
granite  and  a  small  quantity  of  soft  paste  porce- 
lain. The  factory  mark  used  at  this  period,  was 
*'  The  United  States  Pottery  "  in  three  designs. 
(Mark  No.  7.) 

Mr.  Fenton  was  a  skilled  craftsman,  who 
had  learned  the  finer  elements  of  the  potter's  trade. 


No.  7. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    29 

He,  it  was,  who  discovered  in  Vermont  the  fine 
kaolin  clay  and  the  minerals  which  were  used  in 
making  the  various  wares.  Mr.  Fenton  took  out  a 
Patent  for  flint  enamelled  ware,  which  was  an  im- 
provement on  the  Rockingham,  in  its  durability 
and  the  great  variety  of  its  coloring.  It  was  plain, 
mottled  and  striped,  the  latter,  sometimes  being 
called  "  scrodled  "  or  "  lava."  There  is  an  exam- 
ple of  this  ware  in  the  Pitkin  Collection  which  is 
a  tulip  shaped  vase  in  cream  color  with  brown 
markings.     (Plate  No.  14.) 

Workmen  were  sent  for,  from  the  Stafford- 
shire district,  England,  from  Belgium  and  Ger- 
many, and  many  of  the  natives  of  Bennington, 
here,  learned  and  applied  their  trade.  The  pay- 
roll, at  one  time  amounted  to  Six  thousand  dollars 
a  week,  and  about  one  hundred  men  were  em- 
ployed. 

Theophile  Fry,  who  came  either  from 
France  or  Belgium,  and  Daniel  Greatbach  were 
the  principal  artists  and  designers.  Greatbach  was 
an  Englishman,  who  had  worked  for  the  Jersey 
City  Pottery  and  his  name  is  always  connected  with 
the  hound-handled  pitchers  (Plate  No.  8)  which 
he  modelled  first,  for  that  pottery.  In  1850,  when 
he  joined  the  United  States  Pottery,  he  altered 
that  and  other  designs  which  he  had  made  at  the 
Jersey  City  Pottery  and  reproduced  them  at  Ben- 
nington. The  hound  handle  pitcher  of  this  period 
is  the  finest  and  much  superior  even  to  the  later 
one,  reproduced  by  him  at  Trenton.     A  spirited 


30    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

deer  hunt  in  relief  was  represented  on  one  side  and 
a  boar  hunt  on  the  other,  while  a  grape  vine 
covered  the  neck  and  shoulder.  It  was  in  three 
sizes,  usually  in  brown. 

Daniel  Greatbach  came  of  a  family  of 
potters,  and  is  said  to  have  worked  for  the  Ridg- 
ways  in  England,  before  coming  to  America.  The 
idea  of  using  a  dog  for  a  handle  was  not  original 
with  him,  for  it  had  been  done  at  Brampton  in 
Derby-shire,  many  years  previously,  and  the  Doul- 
tons  also  produced  large  stone  ware  mugs,  with 
three  hound  handles.  The  Bennington  pitchers 
differ  from  the  Jersey  City,  in  having  the  head  of 
the  hound  free  from  the  paws,  and  the  vine  is 
heavier  on  the  former  (Old  China,  pp.  95-6). 
When  the  United  States  Pottery  closed,  Greatbach 
went  to  South  Carolina  and  then  to  Peoria,  111., 
when  he  sold  the  mould  for  his  jug.  It  is  now  in 
the  possession  of  the  Vance  Faience  Co.,  who  have 
issued  a  few  copies  which  bear  their  name. 

Among  the  potters  who  came  from  the 
Staffordshire  district,  may  be  mentioned  Daniel 
Greatbach,  the  chief  modeller,  who  came  to  Ben- 
nington from  the  Jersey  City  Pottery,  William 
Leake  and  his  brother  Charles  Leake,  who  were 
both  pressers,  John  Leigh,  and  Enoch  Barber,  who 
were  both  mold-makers,  Joseph  and  Henry  Law- 
ton,  and  John  Harrison,  a  modeller. 

Notes  on  the  Workmen  have  been  fur- 
nished by  Mr.  W.  G.  Leake  of  Bennington,  as 
follows:     "  From  Staffordshire,  William  Hollins, 


No.  8. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    3 1 

presser,  William  McLea  "  jigger-man,"  Thomas 
Piatt,  kiln-placer,  James  Caldwell,  slip-maker,  and 
his  brother  John,  clay-maker,  John  Caldwell,  Jr., 
thrower,  John  Sedman,  presser,  William  Sea- 
bridge,  kiln-placer,  and  Dick  Moon,  kiln-placer. 
The  two  Leakes  went  to  Trenton,  N.  J.,  to 
Phoenixville,  Penn.,  about  1878,  then  to  Eliza- 
beth, N.  J.,  with  L.  B.  Beerbower  and  Co.,  and 
they  were  the  "  Company."  They  sold  out  about 
1887.  At  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  they  had  the 
"  Old  John  Pruden  Red  Ware  Pottery."  The- 
ophile  Fry,  the  chief  decorator,  was  from  Belgium. 
Mr.  William  G.  Leake's  grandfather,  was  a  color 
maker  for  the  Ridgways,  at  Staffordshire,  Eng- 
land. William  Burtleman  was  from  Germany. 
Stephen  Theiss  was  from  Germany." 

Mr.  Leake,  Sr.,  Enoch  Moore  and  John 
Leigh  went  to  West  Troy  and  had  a  Stone  Ware 
Pottery.  Mr.  Leake  returned  to  Bennington 
about  1 86 1,  and  made  Rockingham  Ware  in  the 
north  end  of  the  Stone  Ware  Pottery,  for  about 
three  years. 

Other  names  from  Staffordshire  furnished 
by  Mr.  Leake  were  Joseph  Alsop,  kiln-placer, 
John  Molds,  kiln-placer,  John  and  William  Cart- 
wright,  Joseph  Tunicliff,  turner,  Enoch  Lear, 
thrower,  James  Baker,  turner,  John  Burglin,  ware- 
house man,  William  Wray,  turner,  Leonard  Wray, 
presser,  William  Umpleby,  presser,  William 
Anderson,  kiln-placer,  William  Owens,  kiln-placer, 
William    Maddock,    presser.      Mr.    Leake,    sr., 

3 


32    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 


worked  for  Adam  Carey,  at  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y., 
before  he  came  to  Bennington.  Mr.  William  G. 
Leake  was  born  in  1848.  At  ten  years  of  age  he 
was  in  the  Bennington  Pottery,  where  his  father, 
William  Leake,  worked.  William  L.  Leake  and 
his  brother  Charles,  were  pressers.  William  G. 
Leake's  uncle,  John  Leigh  and  Enoch  Barber  were 
both  from  Staffordshire.  Samuel  and  James 
McDougal  were  from  Glasgow.  (Mr.  W.  G. 
Leake.) 

Among  the  native  workmen  were  Enoch 
Moore,  foreman,  Decius  Clarke,  superintend- 
ent, William  Moore,  Henry  Moore,  Byron  Sib- 
ley, William  Wells,  Rufus  Godfrey,  Thomas 
Hutchins,  Daniel  and  Patrick  McGuire,  Thomas 
CuUien,  Augustus  Danforth,  Dr.  Wilcox,  press- 
man, Charles  and  Dwight  Riddle,  John  Keough, 
Charles   Sanford,   charge   of  the   finished  Ware. 

Mr.  Henry  S.  Gates  of  Chicago  furnishes 
the  following  data  :  — 

"  Stephen  Theis  was  born  in  Mons,  Bel- 
gium, in  the  year  1824.  He  learned  the  potter's 
trade  in  Europe,  and  worked  in  all  its  branches 
from  the  milling  of  the  clay,  to  the  drawing  of 
the  kiln.  -He  also  designed  and  modelled  many 
pieces,  before  he  came  to  America,  which  was  in 
1847  or  4^-  tie  went  to  Bennington  to  work  in 
the  United  States  Pottery  about  1850,  and  he  was 
employed  there  until  it  closed  when  he  went  to 
West  Troy  to  work.  Later  on,  a  Stock  Company, 
under  the  Leadership  of  Mr.  Decius  Clark  started 


No.  g. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    33 

the  manufacture  of  Rockingham  and  yellow  ware, 
in  a  part  of  the  old  United  States  Pottery  building 
when  Mr.  Theiss  returned  to  Bennington,  and  was 
in  their  employ  as  long  as  they  continued  the  busi- 
ness. Afterward,  he  went  to  South  Amboy  to 
work.  In  1866,  he  went  to  Worcester,  Mass.,  to 
work  for  the  firm  of  "  Norton  and  Hancock  " 
both,  formerly,  Bennington  men.  For  several 
years  before  his  death,  he  was  foreman  in  the  J. 
J.  Jeffords  Pottery  in  Philadelphia. 

"  Mr.  Theiss  married  the  sister  of  Mr. 
Henry  S.  Gates  of  Chicago  and  she  is  living  in 
Clementon,  N.  J.  She  is  an  invalid  and  is  seventy- 
nine  years  old. 

"  Theophilus  Fry  was  a  Frenchman  and  an 
expert  decorator.  He  worked  at  the  United  States 
Pottery  until  it  closed  when  he  went  to  Trenton, 

N.  J. 

"  Daniel  Greatbach  was  inclined  to  be  a 
recluse.  He  had  a  room,  on  the  second  floor  where 
he  designed  and  cast  the  molds.  This  room  was 
private  and  but  few  went  into  it.  He  was  about 
sixty  years  old  and  weighed  about  two  hundred 
and  forty  pounds.  He  had  long  hair  that  came  to 
his  shoulders  and  he  was  troubled  with  granulated 
lids." 

Quite  a  number  of  girls  worked  in  the 
pottery  at  the  '  treading  wheel '  for  the  '  throwers  ' 
and  helped  '  stack  up  '  finished  ware  in  the  packing 
room.  They  also  examined  the  finished  ware  for 
defects.  John  Harrison  came  from  England,  to 
do  the  first  modelling  for  the  Parian  ware. 


34    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

Through  Mr.  Fenton's  influence,  Mr.  D. 
W.  Clark,  Superintendent  and  Mr.  E.  Moore 
went  to  Kaolin.  Dr.  Wilcox  also  went  with  Mr. 
Clark  and  Albert  Cushman,  in  December,  1858. 
Messrs.  Fenton  and  Clark  went  from  Kaolin  to 
Peoria,  111.  Messrs.  Hutchins,  Sibley,  Keough, 
and  Godfrey  tried  to  start  up  the  United  States 
Pottery  again. 

Calvin  Park  married  Fanny  Fenton, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Fenton's  first  wife,  who  was  a 
daughter  of  Luman  Norton.  Mr.  Fenton's  first 
wife  died,  and  by  his  second  wife  he  had  a  daugh- 
ter, Louise  Anna,  whom  her  half-sister  Mrs.  Park 
adopted.  Louise  Anna  Fenton  married  Major 
Henry  D.  Fillmore,  whose  daughter,  Fanny  Fen- 
ton Fillmore  married  Mr.  Ralph  H.  White  of 
North  Bennington,  Vermont. 

In  1853  the  works  at  Bennington  were  in 
a  flourishing  condition  and  over  one  hundred  men 
were  employed  there.  The  Pottery's  headquarters 
were  In  Boston  but  there  were  few  '  China  Shops  ' 
in  those  days  and  the  distribution  was  largely  made 
by  peddlers  traveling  from  door  to  door  in  both 
city  and  country,  who  sold  these  new  ornamental 
wares  and  figures  of  lions,  cows,  dogs,  deer,  etc., 
etc.     (Plate  Nos.  9,  10,  11,  12.) 

Among  many  other  forms  were  the  book 
bottles  lettered  "  Departed  Spirits,"  or  "  the 
Battle  of  Bennington  "  Tobies,  tulip-shaped  vases, 
candle-sticks,  pitchers,  tea-sets  and  "  coachman  " 
bottles  all  in  the  Rockingham  or  flint-enamelled 
glazes. 


No.  10. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    35 

It  Is  often  difficult  to  distinguish  between 
Bennington  and  the  similar  wares  made  at  other 
factories,  but  the  marked  examples  help  the  col- 
lector in  his  comparisons  and  judgment. 

Parian  was  an  unglazed  porcelain  sup- 
posed to  imitate  Parian  marble.  It  was  moulded 
with  elaborate  floral  designs  in  relief.  Besides 
pitchers  and  vases  a  few  statuettes  were  produced 
for  mantle  ornament,  such  as  the  Praying  Child  in 
the  Pitkin  Collection.  (Plate  No.  15.)  Much  of 
the  Parian  had  a  blue  pitted  ground  against  which 
the  white  reliefs  stood  out  sharply.  It  is  said  that 
each  indentation  in  this  pitting  was  punched  sepa- 
rately. The  mould  made  from  the  model  had 
small  projecting  points  which  were  covered  wth 
blue  slip  by  means  of  a  brush.  When  the  white 
clay  was  poured  in  a  mould  it  took  up  the  blue 
from  the  points  leaving  the  relief  design  in  white. 
(Plate  No.  13.)  When  not  too  thick  Parian  is 
translucent.  Many  of  the  ornamental  forms  have 
much  delicacy  of  modelling  and  a  velvety  surface 
probably  obtained  by  coating  the  Interior  of  the 
seggars  in  which  they  were  fired  with  glaze  which 
vaporized  with  the  heat,  gave  the  ware  a  glossy 
finish.  Only  those  pieces  intended  to  hold  liquids 
were  actually  glazed  and  then  it  was  on  the  inside. 

In  a  very  interesting  paper,  written  by 
Mrs.  C.  H.  Emmons  of  Bennington,  on  the  Ben- 
nington Pottery  which  was  read  before  the  local 
chapter  of  the  "  Daughters  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution "  she  states  that  "  the  United  States  Pottery 


36    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 


extended  across  what  is  now  School  Street  to  a 
point  a  little  east  of  the  North  Street  Bridge  where 
the  Walloomsac  River  and  the  little  brook  came 
together,  I  am  told  that  the  first  bridge  across 
the  river  at  North  street  was  a  covered  bridge. 
What  is  called  School  Street  and  the  land  to  the 
point  were  piled  high  with  slabs  and  it  required 
what  is  described  as  a  small  army  of  men,  to  draw 
these  slabs  down  from  the  mountains  and  work 
them  into  suitable  lengths  for  firing  the  six  kilns. 
The  first  bridge  on  Pottery  Street  was  built  for  the 
accommodation  of  this  pottery. 

Between  1850  and  i860,  the  pottery  indus- 
tries were  said  to  be  the  largest  in  the  town  em- 
ploying three  hundred  men;  but  this  number  un- 
doubtedly included  the  men  working  in  wood  yards 
and  barns,  as  well  as  the  turners,  molders  and  all 
inside  workers. 

The  United  States  Pottery  went  out  of  ex- 
istence in  i860,  the  potters  going  to  Trenton,  N. 
J.,  Ohio,  Illinois  and  a  few  to  Kaolin,  S.  C.  In 
1870  the  old  building  was  torn  down  to  make  way 
for  the  present  graded  school  building.  Many  of 
the  old  molds  and  patterns  were  stored  in  the  old 
Norton  Pottery  and  the  men  were  allowed  to  use 
them  from  time  to  time,  which  accounts  for  the 
many  pieces  lacking  the  fine  lustre  and  coloring. 

At  the  United  States  Pottery,  Bennington, 
Vermont,  experiments  were  made  with  inlaid  tiles 
in  1853  and  a  sufficient  number  were  produced  to 
cover  a  floor  space  of  seven  feet  square  underly- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    37 


ing  the  exhibit  of  this  factory  at  the  Crystal  Palace 
Exhibition  which  was  held  in  New  York  that  year 
(1853).  These  tiles  were  about  ten  inches  square 
and  made  by  wet  clay  process.  The  body  was 
white  inlaid  with  variegated  colors  the  designs  con- 
sisting of  ornamental  centerpiece  and  border  with 
the  American  flag  in  each  corner.  It  is  not  known 
what  disposition  was  made  of  this  tile  floor,  after 
the  Exhibition,  and  it  seems  that  the  difficulties  en- 
countered in  making  these  examples  deterred  the 
Company  from  continuing  further  experiments  in 
this  direction.     (Dr.  E.  A.  Barber.) 

It  required  four  years  to  master  the  Pot- 
ter's trade.  First,  the  shaping  of  the  lump  of  clay 
on  the  wheel.  Then  came  the  free-hand  decora- 
tion, the  process  of  firing,  setting  and  drawing  the 
kiln,  required  great  care.  The  Salt-glaze  was  pro- 
duced by  throwing  salt  on  the  ware,  in  the  kiln, 
shortly  before  the  kiln  was  drawn  or  opened.  This 
vaporized  and  penetrated  every  crack  and  crevice. 
The  ware  remained  in  the  kiln  about  forty-eight 
hours. 

On  a  wild  winter's  night  in  1873,  the  Nor- 
ton Pottery  took  fire  from  an  over  heated  kiln  and 
burned  to  the  ground.  The  molds  and  patterns 
were  a  loss  which  could  never  be  replaced  and  pre- 
vented the  possibility  of  ever  returning  to  the 
manufacture  of  the  old  hne  of  ware. 

A  characteristic  feature  of  the  Norton  Pot- 
tery was  the  length  of  time  that  men  remained 
with  the  Company.    Two  hundred  and  fifty  years 


38    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

is  the  combined  number  of  years  that  six  men  made 
stone  ware.  Four  of  them  are  now  living.  C.  C. 
Kimball,  John  Norton,  Frederic  Godfrey,  and 
Frank  Greenslet.  The  two  who  have  died  are 
James  Williams  and  Jerome  Johnson. 

Frank  Norton,  brother  of  Edward  Nor- 
ton, with  Frederic  Hancock  were  also  practical 
potters  with  the  firm.  They  went,  about  1858, 
to  Worcester,  Mass.,  where  they  started  a  pottery 
which  had  a  good  out-put  for  many  years. 

"  Fenton's  Enamel  "  or  "  Flint  Enamel  " 
(Plate  Nos.  4,  5,  6,  7),  as  it  was  called  is  found  in 
many  varieties  or  combinations  of  color:  —  black 
and  yellow  mottled,  olive  green  and  yellow,  com- 
binations of  greens,  browns,  yellows,  dark  red  and 
blue,  the  blue  but  sparingly  used.  No  richer 
colored,  more  brilliant,  more  durable  glaze  was 
ever  applied  to  a  bit  of  Rockingham  ware,  than 
appears  on  the  best  specimens  produced  by  this 
firm  in  great  variety  of  colors,  forms  and  sizes  and 
bearing  their  mark. 

The  Parian  ware  they  made  in  large  quan- 
tities and  great  variety  of  articles,  useful  and  orna- 
mental. We  find  that  they  also  made  white  wares 
called  "White  granite"  (Plate  No.  2),  princi- 
pally in  white  toilet  sets,  but  occasionally  in  other 
articles,  such  as  mantel  ornaments. 

The  "scrodled"  or  "lava"  ware  (Plate 
No.  14)  manufactured  here,  was  similar  to  the 
English  agate  ware.    It  seems  not  to  have  enjoyed 


No.    12. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    39 

I  — 

great  popularity  or  was  too  expensive  or  difficult 
of  production,  as  we  seldom  meet  with  a  specimen. 
In  fact,  it  is  the  rarest  of  all  this  great  factory's 
great  out-put.  In  making  it,  different  colored 
bodies  were  mixed  with  layers  of  white  clay  by 
partial  "  wedging."  When  finished  the  article  had 
a  marbled  or  veined  appearance  which  ran  through 
the  body. 

Porcelain,  both  hard  and  soft  paste,  was 
made  at  this  factory,  but  in  small  amounts  with 
only  partial  success. 

A'  variety  of  clays  were  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of  the  ware:  some  coming  from  Long 
Island,  New  Jersey,  some  from  South  Carolina; 
and  a  large  amount  as  ballast  in  ships  from  abroad, 
it  being  as  cheap  to  import  it  in  this  way  as  to 
bring  it  from  New  Jersey.  Blue  or  "  ball  clay  " 
came  from  Woodbridge,  N.  J.  The  Stone  Ware 
had  a  clay  from  South  Amboy,  N.  J.,  from  the 
*'  Morgan  Clay  Banks  "  as  they  were  called.  The 
Parian  ware  was  costly  and  was  always  modelled 
with  great  care.  The  pitchers  and  vases  had  raised 
white  figures  on  a  blue,  gray,  or  white  background. 
There  were  a  few  poodles  made  in  the  Parian 
ware,  also  cows,  white  tobys  and  hound-handled 
pitchers.  Parian  ware  was  made  by  pressing  also 
by  casting. 

The  "  Flint  enamelled  "  ware  (Plates  No. 
4.  5»  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11),  for  which  Mr.  Fenton 
took  out  a  patent,  was  similar  to  Rockingham,  but 
harder  and  more  brilliant  in  appearance,  and  was 


40    HISTORY    OF   THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 


made  in  three  colors,  black  mottled  with  yellow, 
olive  and  yellow,  brown  and  yellow,  with  red,  blue 
and  green  mixed. 

The  largest  piece  of  Bennington  ware  in 
existence  is  the  monumental  piece,  ten  feet  in 
height  which  stands  on  the  piazza  between  the 
homes  of  Mrs,  W.  B.  Walker  and  Henry  Fill- 
more, Pleasant  Street,  Bennington,  Vermont.  This 
monumental  piece  was  displayed  at  the  Crystal 
Palace  in  New  York  in  1853.  It  is  composed  of 
four  kinds  of  ware.  The  base  is  the  lava  ware,  the 
second  section,  the  flint  enamel.  Above  this  is  a 
Hfe  size  bust  of  Mr.  Fenton,  surrounded  by  eight 
Rockingham  columns  and  the  whole  surmounted 
by  the  Parian  figure  of  a  woman.  Dr.  E.  A.  Bar- 
ber in  his  book  on  Pottery  and  Porcelain  (page 
170)  states  "This  work  is  said  to  have  been  de- 
signed by  Mr.  Fenton  but  modelled  by  Greatbach 
and  was  placed  on  exhibition  at  the  New  York 
Crystal  Palace,  in  1853.  It  now  stands  on  the 
porch  of  Mr.  Fenton's  former  residence  in  Ben- 
nington, a  monument  to  his  enterprise  and  genius." 
(Plate  No.  16.) 

Horace  Greeley,  in  the  New  York  Tribune, 
under  an  article  called  "Art  and  Industry  at  Crys- 
tal Palace  "  gave  a  long  description  of  the  Fenton 
or  United  States  Pottery  display.  He  said 
"  around  this  monumental  piece  are  grouped  table 
and  scale  standards,  Corinthian  capitals,  figures, 
vases,  urns,  toilet  sets,  and  a  great  variety  of  other 
specimens  of  porcelain  plain  and  inlaid."    He  also 


No.   13. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    4 1 


mentions  telegraph  Insulators  in  white  flint  and 
says  "  This  material  is  one  of  the  best  electro 
non-conductors  that  can  be  found  and  has  been 
employed  on  the  telegraphs  in  the  vicinity  of 
Boston." 

Under  the  flint  enamel  ware  he  speaks  of 
pitchers,  candle-sticks,  teapots,  picture  •  frames, 
doorplates,  door  and  curtain  knobs,  and  escutch- 
eons. He  described  the  Parian  ware  as  remark- 
ably fine,  especially  in  the  form  of  pitchers.  They 
are  light  in  material  and  graceful  in  outline  and  of 
two  tints,  one  fawn-colored  from  the  presence  of 
a  little  oxide  of  iron,  and  the  other,  white,  from  its 
absence.  These  are  made  of  the  flint  from  Ver- 
mont and  Massachusetts,  the  feldspar  from  New 
Hampshire,  and  the  china-clay  from  Vermont  and 
South  Carolina.  This  Company  has  the  credit  of 
first  producing  Parian  ware  on  this  continent. 

Silliman  and  Goodrich's  "  New  York  Ex- 
hibition of  1853  "  published  by  George  P.  Put- 
nam, also  describe  this  ware. 

The  first  attraction  of  the  United  States 
Pottery  ware,  is  its  quaintness.  The  pieces  were 
carefully  modelled,  more  so  than  most  of  the 
products  of  other  potteries  of  that  period.  The 
glaze  was  more  uniform,  brilliant  and  evenly  ap- 
plied and  had  a  rich  velvety  sheen. 

Walter  A.  Dyer  says:  "  It  requires  a  cer- 
tain sort  of  genius  to  design  such  fierce  lions,  such 
motherly  cows,  such  jolly  tobies." 


42    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

A  collection  of  Bennington  ware  was 
shown  at  the  American  Exposition  in  1901  and 
since  that  time  it  has  steadily  gained  in  popularity. 

Today,  in  the  Rockingham  ware,  pitchers, 
mantle  ornaments  and  flasks  are  much  sought  for. 
Many  flasks  are  in  the  form  of  books  and  bear 
such  titles  as  "  Departed  Spirits "  "  Vanished 
Spirits  "  and  others.  Popular  among  the  figures 
was  a  lion  (Plate  No.  9)  with  its  fore-paw  resting 
on  a  ball,  and  a  poodle  carrying  a  basket  in  its 
mouth  (Plate  No.  12).  Among  the  pitchers  the 
most  valuable  are  the  Greatbach  "  hound- 
handled." 

Rockingham  ware  was  made  mottled,  by 
splashing  on  glaze  with  a  paddle.  The  Rocking- 
ham glaze  contained  lead  spar,  flint  and  manga- 
nese. 

The  pottery  business  was  in  the  Norton 
family  from  1793  to  1894  and  during  that  time 
six  Norton  men  were  members  of  the  firm,  John, 
Luman,  Julius,  Edward,  Luman  P.  and  Edward  L. 
Norton.  The  business  card  used  on  their  One 
Hundredth  Anniversary  read,  "  We  start  now  on 
our  Second  Century,  and  would  ask  for  a  con- 
tinuance of  your  favors  for  the  next  One  Hundred 
Years.     Edward  Norton  and  Co." 

The  history  of  the  two  Bennington  Pot- 
teries Is  confused  by  most  of  those  who  have 
talked  or  written  on  the  subject.  The  Norton 
Pottery  stands  for  length  of  years  and  an  out-put 
of  a  substantial  and  largely  utilitarian  character. 


iimff' 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    43 


The  United  States  Pottery  was  in  existence  but  a 
few  years  but  in  that  time  produced  much  of  artis- 
tic merit  and  many  pieces  of  great  beauty. 

In  studying  the  Bennington  Pottery,  and 
its  various  wares,  I  have  endeavored  to  acquaint 
myself  with  all  the  different  patterns  used  there. 
The  majority  of  these  are  represented  by  speci- 
mens in  my  Collection  in  the  Pottery  Room  of  the 
Morgan  Memorial,  Wadsworth  Atheneum,  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut.  It  may  be  observed  that  the 
same  patterns  and  sizes  were  used  to  produce  speci- 
mens in  more  than  one  kind  of  ware. 

The  following  Lists  are  intended  to  assist 
the  Collector.  Let  me  warn  such,  that  much 
American  Rockingham  Ware  and  foreign  Parian 
Ware,  is  offered  on  the  market  as  Bennington,  that 
never  came  from  Bennington. 

Lists. 
Stone  Ware. 

Churns, 

Crocks,  — various  sizes, 

Jugs  —  various  sizes. 

Water  coolers, 

Pitchers  —  various  forms  and  sizes 

Sugar  bowl. 

Rockingham  Ware  (not  flint  enamelled). 

Various  cooking  utensils,  such  as  pipkins,  shal- 
low dishes,  cake  molds,  pie-plates. 
Pitchers  —  various  forms  and  sizes, 


44    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

Jars  —  various  forms  and  sizes, 

Water  cooler, 

Globular  vases. 

Cow  creamer, 

Cuspidors, 

Flower-pots, 

Drinking  cup. 

Soap  dish,  round. 

Dog  handled  pitcher. 

Rockingham,  Flint  Enamelled. 

Lion  on  base,  facing  right. 

Lion  on  base,  facing  left. 

Lion  (no  base),  facing  left, 
,     Lion  (no  base),  facing  right, 

Poodle  dog,  facing  right. 

Poodle  dog,  facing  left. 

Deer  recumbent  on  base. 

Cow, 

Spaniel  dog  recumbent  on  base.     Paper  weight. 

Vases,  tulip  leaved,  tall, 

Vases,  tulip  leaved,  short, 

Books,  small,  medium  and  large. 

Money  bank,  figure  of  a  woman. 

Foot  warmer. 

Tile  rest,  for  fire  set. 

Door  plates,  straight  sides  and  rococo. 

Picture  frames,  oval  and  square,  and  rococo, 

Drinking  cup,  tumbler  shaped. 

Drinking  cup,  goblet  shaped. 

Drinking  cup,  goblet  shaped  with  a  handle. 


No.   15. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY   45 

Hound  handle  pitcher, 

Hunting  scene  pitcher, 

Wash  bowl  and  pitcher,  octagonal, 

Wash  bowl  and  pitcher,  round, 

Wash  bowl  and  pitcher,  reeded. 

Soap  dish. 

Door  knobs,  various  sizes. 

Curtain  knobs. 

Match  box, 

Slop  jar. 

Foot-bath, 

Jardinieres, 

Cuspidors  —  various  sizes  and  patterns. 

Water  cooler, 

Tea-pot, 

Coffee-pot, 

Sugar  bowl. 

Creamer, 

Spoon-holder, 

Toby,  handle,  a  man's  leg, 

Toby,  a  man  seated, 

Toby  bottle,  man  in  cloak,  monk, 

Toby  bottle,   man  in  cloak,  with  higher  hat, 

curly  hair,  coachman, 
Toby  bottle,  man  astride  a  cask. 
Bottle,  flask,  drinking  scene, 
Tooth-brush  holder, 
Toby  tobacco  jar, 
Lamp  standards. 
Candle  sticks,  tall. 
Candle  sticks,  short. 


46    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

Candle  sticks,  with  saucer  loop  handle, 

Pipkins, 

Toilet  set,  complete, 

Brackets. 

Parian. 

Pitcher,  Water  Lily, 

Pitcher,  Knight, 

Pitcher,  Wild  Rose  Niagara, 

Pitcher,  Palm  Tree, 

Pitcher,  Ivy  Leaf, 

Sugar  bowl, 

Dog  and  Kennel, 

Door-plate, 

Knobs, 

Escutcheons, 

Figure,  "  Samuel," 

Figure,  Sheep, 

Figure,  Ram, 

Figure,  Bird's  Nest, 

Figure,  Girl  lacing  her  shoe, 

Figure,  Eagle  and  Child, 

Figure,  Bust  of  Fenton, 

Figure,  Greyhound, 

Figure,  Poodle  Dog,  Right  and  Left, 

Vase,  Calvin  Park, 

Vase,  cylindrical, 

Swan, 

Cane  Head, 

Letters  for  Door  Plates, 

Syrup  Jugs, 

Phrenological  Head. 


No.   i6. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY   47 


Granite  Ware. 
Toilet  Set, 
Escutcheons, 
Foot-Bath, 

Water  Pitchers  —  various  sizes, 
Cow  creamer, 
Swan, 

Globular  Vase, 
Cuspldores, 
Toby  Bottle. 

Scrodled. 

Vase,  Tulip  leaved, 
Wash  bowl  and  pitcher, 
Monument  Base, 
Tooth  Brush  Dish, 
Soap  dish, 
Cuspidors. 

Marbled. 

Parts  of  a  Toilet  Set. 


No.   17 


of  tift 

Albert  Ifaatinsa  ptkm  ffloU^rttntt 


of 


SIftttttngton  P^ttfrg 


®ljf  morgan  Memorial 
^wrt{avh,  (HanmctUtxt 


3Prrbfrirk  3.  MUltamaim 
Manttiuir,     Nrw  SwBpg 


of  tl?* 

Albert  illaBtmgB  ptktn  (HoiUttxan  of  tljr 

Sg  ^rthtvitk  3.  UilUamamt 
iloutrlatr,  N^m  ^rrarg 

No.  I.  White  Parian  Pitcher,  Bennington,  Vt. 
Daisy  pattern.  Glazed  outside  and 
Inside.  Branch  handle.  Height  S/i 
inches.  Mark:  "  Fenton's  Works, 
Bennington,  Vt."  Medallion.  Rare 
mark. 

No.  2.  Parian  Pitcher,  Bennington,  Vt.  White 
pond  lily  on  blue  pitted  back-ground. 
Glazed  interior.  Height  7^  inches. 
"  United  States  Pottery "  Ribbon 
Mark. 

No.  3.  White  Parian  Door  Plate,  ornamented 
with  scroll  and  with  opening  in  cen- 
ter, for  the  Insertion  of  owner's 
name.    Never  marked. 


52    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

No.  4.  Parian  Pitcher.  Deep  grey  pitted  body. 
Ornamentation  of  boy  carrying 
small  child  across  the  stream.  Height 
9  inches.  Mark:  "United  States 
Pottery  "  Ribbon  mark. 

No.  5.  White  Porcelain  Pitcher.  Height  6  inches. 
Peculiar  shape  caused  by  placing  in 
kiln  before  sufficiently  dry.  No 
mark. 

No.  6.  Parian  Pitcher.  Grey  ground,  pond  lily 
pattern.  Glazed  inside.  Height 
7^  inches.  "  United  States  Pot- 
tery "  Ribbon  Mark. 

No.  7.  Parian  Pitcher.  Blue  pitted  back-ground. 
Design  acorn  and  leaves.  Spout 
formed  as  a  trunk  of  a  tree.  Branch 
handle.  "  United  States  Pottery  " 
Ribbon  Mark. 

No.  8.  Small  Figure,  Parian.  Girl  lacing  her 
shoe.  Height  2H  inches.  Never 
marked. 

No.  9.  Sheep,  small  Parian  on  oval  base.  Un- 
marked. "  Cold-slaw  "  ornamenta- 
tion. 

No.  10.  Recumbent  sheep  resting  against  tree- 
trunk.  On  oval  base.  "  Cold-slaw  " 
ornamentation. 

No.  II.  White  Parian  Ornament.  Swan.  Height 
^^/i  inches;  width  5J4  inches. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    53 

No.  12.  White  Parian  Bird  on  side  of  nest.  Nest 
contains  three  eggs. 

No.  13.  Large  white  Parian  Escutcheon.  Pear 
shaped,  3^  inches  in  width  by  4^ 
inches  in  height. 

No.  14.  Parian  Ink-well,  unglazed.  Child  reclin- 
ing against  the  back-ground  of  a 
rock.  Top  surmounted  by  a  spread 
eagle. 

No.  15.  Parian  Sheep  reclining  on  oval  base. 
Glazed.     "  Cold-slaw  "  pattern. 

No.  16.  White  Parian  reclining  grey-hound.  Un- 
glazed. Rests  on  cushion-shaped 
base,  with  tassels  at  the  four  corners. 

No.  17.  White  glazed  Parian  Syrup  Pitcher.  Ivy 
leaf  design.  Height  7  inches. 
Glazed  inside  and  outside.  "  United 
States  Pottery  "  Medallion  Mark. 

No.  18.  Parian  Drum-shaped  Vase,  on  blue 
pitted  back-ground.  Design  Acan- 
thus leaves.    Height  5  inches. 

No.  19.  Small  Parian  Syrup  Jug.  Pewter  lid. 
Design  of  rose  on  white  pitted  back- 
ground. Glazed  Inside,  un-glazed 
outside.  "  United  States  Pottery  " 
Ribbon  Mark. 


54    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 


No.  20.  White  Parian  Syrup  Jug.  Glazed  inside. 
Un-glazed  outside.  White  design 
of  palms  on  white  pitted  back- 
ground. Height  7^  inches.  Pew- 
ter lidded.  "United  States  Pottery  " 
Ribbon  Mark. 

No.  21.  Parian  Pitcher.  Design  of  oak  leaves 
and  acorns  in  white  on  blue  pitted 
back-ground.  Glazed  inside  and  out- 
side. Branch  handle.  Lip  forms 
the  trunk  of  a  tree.  Similar  to  No. 
7.  Larger  size.  Height  9  inches. 
"  United  States  Pottery "  Ribbon 
Mark. 

No.  22.  Parian  Ink-stand  in  form  of  phrenologi- 
cal head,  bumps  and  marks  divided 
by  blue  lines.  A  very  late  piece. 
1863. 

No.  23.  Small  white  Granite  Pitcher.  Decora- 
tions of  roses  and  scrolls  in  heavy 
gold  on  white  body.  Height  2H 
inches. 

No.  24.  Parian  Syrup  Pitcher.  Palm  design  in 
white  on  a  chocolate  pitted  back- 
ground. "  United  States  Pottery  " 
Ribbon  Mark. 

No.  25.  Syrup  Jug.  Palm  design  in  white  on 
deep  chocolate  pitted  back-ground. 
Heavily  glazed  outside  as  well  as 
inside. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    55 

No.  26.  "  Scrodled "  Vase  with  scalloped  top. 
Height  9  inches.  A  most  unusual 
piece  in  scrodle  ware. 

No.  27.  "  Scrodled  "  Cow  Creamer.    Rare  piece. 

No.  28.  Cream  ware  Pitcher,  leaf  pattern. 
Branch  handle.     Height  9^  inches. 

No.  29.  "  Scrodled "  Pitcher.  Tulip  pattern. 
Height  8>i  inches.  Mark:  Oval  U. 
S.  Pottery  Mark.     Impressed. 

No.  30.  "  Scrodled  "  Tall  Flower  Vase  or  Celery 
Goblet.     Height  9  inches. 

No.  31.  Sugar  Bowl.  Grey  Parian,  heavily  glazed 
inside  and  out.  Daisy  pattern 
with  Medallion  Mark:  "  Fenton's 
Works,  Bennington,  Vt." 

No.  32.  Cream  Ware  Pitcher,  with  smeared 
glaze  of  Milky  Ware.  No  mark. 
Height  6%.  inches. 

No.  33.  Parian  Pitcher.  Water-lily  pattern. 
Glazed  interior,  un-glazed  exterior. 
White  with  pitted  back-ground. 
Height  9 14  inches.  "  U.  S.  Pot- 
tery "  Ribbon  Mark. 

No.  34.  Three  Porcelain  Letters,  ''A.,"  "  H.," 
"  P.,"  for  attaching  to  Bennington 
door-plates. 


56    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 


No.  35.  Large  white  Parian  Figure  of  a  Cliild  at 
Prayer.  Kneeling  on  square  base  in 
form  of  cushion  with  tassels  on  four 
corners.     Glazed. 

No.  36.  White  Parian  Pitcher.  "  Sunflower 
pattern  "  on  pitted  back-ground. 
Glazed  interior,  un-glazed  exterior. 
Height  8  inches.  "  U.  S.  Pottery  " 
Ribbon  Mark. 

No.  37.  White  Parian  Poodle  Dog.  Basket  of 
fruit  in  mouth.  "  Cold-slaw  "  mane 
and  tip  of  tail.  Extremely  rare  in 
Parian  ware. 

No.  38.  White  Parian  Pitcher.  Rose  design. 
Branch  handle.  Lip  formed  as  trunk 
of  tree.  Height  ()%  inches.  Medal- 
lion Mark  "  Fenton's  Works,  Ben- 
nington, Vt." 

No.  39.  White  Vase.  Height  sVa  inches.  Flar- 
ing at  top.  Banded  alternate  lines 
of  gold  and  plum  color. 

No.  40.  The  "  Niagara  or  Water-Fall  "  Pitcher. 
White  Parian.  Glazed  interior. 
Un-glazed  exterior.  First  Parian 
Ware  made  in  the  United  States  in 
1846.  "United  States  Pottery" 
Medallion  Mark. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    57 

No.  41.  Granite  Ware  Water  Pitcher.  Dark 
blue  under  glaze  decoration  of 
grapes  and  grape-vines.  Also,  heav- 
ily gilded  roses  in  panel  and  on  re- 
verse the  name  "  W.  C.  Morey  from 
H.  A.  W.  "  all  in  heavy  gold  9 
inches  high. 

No.  42.  Granite  Ware  Pitcher.  Heavy  gilt  deco- 
ration. Roses  in  panel.  On  the  re- 
verse "  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Harwood  " 
in  heavy  gold. 

No.  43.  White  Parian  Vase.  Heavily  crackled. 
Height  6  inches. 

No.  44.  Small  Vase  or  Paper-holder.  Circular. 
Height  434  inches.  Decoration  blue 
and  gold  bands. 

No.  45.  White  Granite  Ware.  Toby  bottle 
from  the  Dewey  Homestead,  Ben- 
nington Center,  Vermont.  Heavily 
glazed  and  crackled.  Height  11^ 
inches. 

No.  46.  Flint  Enamel  Chamber  Candle-stick  on 
circular  base.  5^  inches  in  diameter 
2Ji  inches  in  height.  Flecked  with 
rare  blue  color. 

No.  47.  Flint  Enamel  Toby  Bottle,  10  inches  in 
height.  Broad  brimmed  hat.  1849 
Mark. 


58    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

No.  48.  Flint  Enameled  Match-box.  Mottled 
and  streaked.  Brown  glaze.  Low 
crowned  hat  forms  the  cover.     1849 

Mark. 

No.  49.  Candle-stick,  flint  enamel.  Height  65^ 
inches.  With  rare  orange,  blue  and 
olive  flecks  of  color.  Tubular  form 
on  spreading  circular  base. 

No.  50.  Bennington  Flint  Enamel  Lion  on  base. 
Smooth  mane.  Beautifully  colored 
olive  green  and  brown  shades.  1849 
Mark. 

No.  51.  Flint  Enamel  Paper  Weight.  Small 
poodle  dog  reclining  on  cushion- 
shaped  base.  Brown  in  color.  1849 
Mark. 

No.  52.  Candle-stick.  Flint  enamel.  Tubular 
form  on  spreading  circular  base  with 
mahogany,  blue  and  green  tints. 

No.  53.  Pair  of  Flint  Enamel  Shelf  Supports 
or  Brackets  in  beautifully  mottled 
olive  green  color.  Formed  in  scrolls 
10  inches  in  depth  by  5%  in  breadth. 

No.  54.  Cow  Creamer.  Deep  mahogany  color. 
Flint  enamel. 

No.  ^^.  Toby  Bottle.  Flint  Enamel.  Mahogany 
color.  Wide  brimmed  hat.  10^ 
inches  in  height.     1849  Mark. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    59 

No.  56.  Poodle  Dog.  "  Cold-slaw  "  mane  and 
tip  of  tail.  Basket  of  fruit.  Of  the 
variety  without  the  base.     Rare. 

No.  57.  Flint  Enamel  Doe,  reclining  on  oval 
base.  ii><  inches  long.  Beautifully 
mottled  with  orange  and  olive 
colors.  Bears  the  1849  Mark. 

No.  58.  Companion  piece  to  the  above  No.  57, 
in  the  shape  of  the  Stag  reclining 
on  oval  base.  11^  inches  long. 
With  olive,  orange  and  brown  mot- 
tling.    1849  Mark. 

No.  59.  Flint  enamel  Cow  Creamer  In  light 
brown  and  orange  coloring. 

No.  60.  Flint  Enamel  Lion.  The  variety  without 
base.  With  "  cold-slaw  "  mane.  In 
mahogany  and  olive  colorings. 

No.  61.  Toby  Jug.  In  form  of  a  seated  figure. 
Grape-vine  handle.  Mahogany 
coloring.     6^/2  inches  in  height. 

No.  62.  Toby  Jug.  So-called  "  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin." Boot  handle.  Height  6  inches. 
1849  Mark. 

No.  63.  Mate  to  No.  56.  Flint  Enamel  Poodle 
Dog. 

No.  64.  Child's  Bank.  Flint  enamel.  Shaped  as 
a  Lady  in  crinoline  skirts.  Beauti- 
fully mottled  enamel  in  blue,  orange 
and  mahogany. 


6o    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

No.  6S'  Flint  Enamel  Lion.  *'  Cold-slaw  "  mane. 
On  base.  Yellow  and  mahogany 
tone.     1849  Mark. 

No.  66.  Toby  Bottle.  Flint  enamel.  Narrow 
brimmed  hat.  Rarest  of  the  two 
varieties.  Flecked  with  olive  color- 
ing.  1849  Mark. 

No.  67.  Flint  Enamel  Tulip-shaped  Pitcher. 
Covered  spout.  Rich  colorings, 
green,  yellow  and  brown.  Reeded. 
Height  5^-2  inches. 

No.  68.  Coffee  pot.  Flint  enamel.  Octagonal. 
Dome  shaped  cover.  Streaked  with 
olive,  orange  and  brown.  Height 
to  top  of  finial,  12^  inches. 

No.  69.  Flint  Enameled  Sugar  Bowl.  Octagonal 
shape.  Streaked  with  blue,  brown 
and  yellow.  Dome  shaped  cover. 
Height  9  inches. 

No.  70.  Tea-pot.  Octagonal  flint  enamel.  Dome 
shaped  cover.  Goes  with  Nos.  68 
and  69.  Height  9  inches  to  top  of 
cover. 

No.  71.  Octagonal  Flint  Enamel  Coffee  Pot. 
Dome-shaped  cover.  Height  10^ 
inches.  Streaked  glaze  with  orange, 
blue  and  brown.  1849  Mark. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    6 1 

No.  72.  Sugar-bowl,  flint  enamel.  Brown  glaze. 
Speckled.  1849  Mark.  Height  7>4 
inches. 

No.  73.  Goblet-shaped  Vase  on  circular  foot. 
Fluted  rim.  Flint  enamel.  Height 
6  inches. 

No.  74.  Flint  Enamel  "  Greatbach "  Hound 
Handle  Pitcher,  in  mahogany  tone. 

No.  75.  Tall  Goblet-shaped  Vase,  scalloped  rim. 
Streaked  with  blue  and  brown. 
Height  10  inches. 

No.  76.  Bennington  Book  Bottle.  Flint  enamel. 
Speckled  orange,  brown  and  blue. 
5>^  inches  by  4  inches.  With  "  Fen- 
ton's  Works  "  Medallion  Mark  on 
bottom  leaf  edge  of  book.  (Marked 
Bennington  books  are  extremely 
rare.) 

No.  77.  Flint  Enamel  Book  Bottle,  11  inches  by 
834  inches.  Streaked  brown  and 
blue  glaze.  Marked  "  Bennington 
Companion." 

No.  78.  Bennington  Book  Bottle.  Flint  enamel. 
Marked  "Life  of  Kossuth."  5^ 
inches  by  4  inches.  Streaked  mahog- 
any with  fleckings  of  blue. 


62    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

No.  79.  Bennington  Book  Bottle.  Flint  enamel. 
734  inches  by  6  inches.  Marked 
"  Bennington  Companion."  Streaked 
brown  and  yellow  glaze. 

No.  80.  Bennington  Book  Bottle.  Flint  enamel. 
5>4  inches  by  4  inches.  Marked 
"  Hermit's  Companion."  Marked 
books  are  extremely  rare.  Beauti- 
fully flecked  with  orange  and  olive. 
1849  rnark,  impressed. 

No.  81.  Bennington  Book  Bottle.  Flint  enamel. 
5^  inches  by  4  inches.  Marked 
"  Departed  Spirits."  In  dark  glaze 
of  mahogany,  blue  and  yellow. 

No.  82.  Bennington  Book  Bottle.    Flint  enamel. 

8  inches  by  5^  inches.  Marked 
"Life  of  Kossuth."  Speckled 
orange  and  olive. 

No.  83.  Goblet-shaped  Vase  with  scalloped  rim, 
in  a  deep  mahogany  tone.     Height 

9  inches. 

No.  84.  Bennington  Book  Bottle.  Flint  enamel. 
10%  inches  by  8^4  inches.  Marked 
"  Bennington  Battle."  Superb  speci- 
men. Eight  Bennington  Book  Bot- 
tles, all  different  sizes  and  titles. 

No.  85.  Octagonal  Flint  Enamel  Pitcher.  Flar- 
ing spout.  "  Figure  Seven  "  handle 
in  mottled  olive  and  yellow  coloring. 
Height  7 1/2  inches.     1849  Mark. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    63 

No.  86.  Same  as  85.  Height  6  inches.  1849 
Mark. 

No.  87.  Flint  Enamel  Pitcher.  Hunting  scene  in 
relief.  Branch  handle.  Heavy- 
brown  glaze. 

No.  88.  Flint  Enamel  Pitcher  with  rare  light 
green  and  olive  mottling.  Diamond 
shaped  markings. 

No.  89.  Large  Cylindrical  Fluted  Cracker  Jar, 
with  cover.  Flint  enamel.  Height 
9^  inches.  Diameter  6  inches. 
Mahogany  tone. 

No.  90.  Brown  Flint  Enamel  Pitcher.  Hexag- 
onal form.  Decorated  with  relief 
of  roses  and  leaves  with  impressed 
Mark  in  straight  lines,  of  "  Norton 
and  Fenton,  East  Bennington,  Ver- 
mont." Very  early  specimen  circa 
1840.    Extremely  rare.    Very  early. 

No.  91.  Octagonal-shaped  Pitcher.  Flint  enamel. 
"  Figure  Seven  "  handle.  Flaring 
spout.  Height  7>^  inches.  Brown 
tones  with  fleckings  of  blue.  1849 
Mark. 

No.  92.  Brown  Flint  Enamel  Pitcher.  Sexag- 
onal  shape,  with  relief  panel  of 
flowers  and  leaves.  Extremely  rare. 
Mark  the  straight  line  "  Norton  and 
Fenton,  East  Bennington,  Ver- 
mont."   Rare  Mark,    circa  1840. 


64    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

No.  93.  Tulip-shaped  Pitcher  in  Flint  Enamel. 
Height  S}i  inches.  Speckled  with 
brown  and  yellow.  A  beautiful  spec- 
imen.   The  1849  Mark. 

No.  94.  Brown  Flint  Enamel  Pitcher.  Sexag- 
onal  shape.  Height  8>^  inches. 
Rose  and  grape  decoration,  in  re- 
lief. One  tone  mahogany  coloring. 
"  Norton  and  Fenton,  Bennington, 
Vermont "  Mark.  The  Circular 
Mark. 

No.  95.  Flint  Enamel  Water  Pitcher.  Height 
10^  inches.  Streaked  brown  color- 
ing. 

No.  96.  Flint  Enamel  Foot-Bath  Tub.  Olive, 
brown  and  yellow.  Blue  streaks  and 
mottling.  18  inches  by  14  inches. 
1849  Mark. 

No.  97.  Goblet-shaped  Vase.  Fluted  sides  and 
pedestal.  Scalloped  top.  Height 
10  inches. 

No.  98.  Flint  Enamel  Pitcher.  Flecked  with 
green,  brown  and  yellow.  Diamond 
shaped  decoration  on  sides.  Height 
1054  inches. 

No.  99.  Pair  of  Curtain  Knobs.  Flint  enamel. 
Diameter  4  inches.  Mahogany  and 
blue  colorings.     Rare. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    65 

No.  100.  Flint  Enamel  Pitcher.  Dark  brown 
mottling.    Height  9  inches. 

No.  loi.  Door  Plate  with  lettering  of  name 
"  W.  Johnson."  Flint  enamel. 
Brown  tone. 

No.  102.  Water  Cooler.  Flint  enamel  16%. 
inches  in  height. by  11  inches  wide, 
with  pewter  spigot.  Brown  tone. 
In  shape  of  a  column,  on  an  octag- 
onal base.  Fenton's  Medallion 
Mark. 

No.  103.  Flint  Enamel  Tile  for  Fire  Set.  6^ 
inches  by  8>4  inches.     1849  Mark. 

No.  104.  Flint  Enamel  Water  Pitcher.  Octag- 
onal. Height  II  inches.  "Figure 
Seven "  handle.  Rich  mahogany, 
blue  and  yellow  coloring.  1849 
Mark. 

No.  105.  Flint  Enamel  Pitcher  and  Wash-Bowl. 
Extremely  rare.  Light  green  and 
yellow  streakings.  Diamond-shaped 
decorations  on  side  of  pitcher  and 
on  inside  of  bowl.  Very  rare  color- 
ing. 

No.  106.  Flint  Enamel  Soap-Dish  and  Strainer 
Octagonal  shape.  Olive  and  cream 
coloring  with  1849  Mark.  Im- 
pressed. 


66    HISTORY    OF   THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

No.  icy.  Octagonal  Flint  Enamel  Soap-Dish  and 
Strainer  and  Cover,  in  rich  mahog- 
any and  yellow  and  cream  color. 
1849  Mark  Impressed. 

No.  108.  Very  Rare  Pitcher  and  Wash-Bowl. 
Tall  octagonal  shape.  Height  12 
inches.  Flint  Enamel.  Rare  and 
beautiful  coloring,  blue,  olive  and 
orange  on  a  cream  body.  1849 
Mark  Impressed.  Very  rare.  Ex- 
quisite coloring. 

No.  109.  Water  Cooler.  Flint  enamel.  Height 
16  inches.  Diameter  12  inches. 
Octagonal  sides  composed  of  eight 
columns,  taken  from  the  design  of 
the  base  of  the  Monument  of  Ben- 
nington Ware,  at  Bennington,  Ver- 
mont. Around  the  top  is  the  Mark 
"Lyman  and  Fenton,  1849." 


iHarkfi  0f  %  IS^nnttt^tnn  Patt^rg 


Dr.  Edwin  A.  Barber  In  his  book  on  "  Pot- 
tery and  Porcelain  of  the  United  States  "  states, 
"  that  no  attempt  has  ever  been  made  to  compile  a 
list  of  marks  and  maker's  designs  on  American 
wares.  Unmarked  pieces  of  undoubted  genuine- 
ness have  been  handed  down  to  us  carefully  from 
the  time  of  our  grand-parents,  and  by  means  of 
these,  the  ceramic  student  may  hope  to  be  enabled 
to  penetrate  the  vail  of  uncertainty  which  sur- 
rounds others. 

Fortunately,  we  find  now  and  then  a  spec- 
imen bearing  a  mark  among  the  productions  of 
discontinued  factories  of  the  last  century.  We  can 
at  least  commence  now  to  gather  together  what  Is 
still  to  be  procured  from  the  past  and  to  collect 
material  for  the  history  of  the  potter's  art  as  It 
exists  In  America  In  our  own  time. 

Further  delay  would  seem  Inexcusable, 
because  it  would  result  in  the  loss  of  Information 
which,  while  now  obtainable,  could  not  be  pro- 
cured a  few  years  hence. 


70    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 

No  attempt  has  ever  been  made,  so  far  as 
we  know,  to  compile  a  list  of  marks  and  maker's 
designs  on  American  wares." 


The  following  list  of  the  Marks  of  the 
Bennington  Pottery  have  been  procured  from  the 
Albert  Hastings  Pitkin  Collection  in  the  Morgan 
Memorial,  Hartford,  Conn. 


O 


Mark  I.  "  Norton  &  Fenton,  Benning- 
ton, Vt."  Impressed  on  the  Octagonal  pitchers  of 
the  "  single  glaze  "  Rockingham  Ware. 

Mark  2.  This  same  mark  also  appears  in 
elliptical  form  on  similar  pitchers. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY    7 1 


NORTON  &FENTON 

East  Bennington,Vt. 

Mark  5.  "  Norton  &  Fenton,  East  Ben- 
nington, Vt."  A  brown  glazed  pitcher  in  the 
Pitkin  Collection  bears  this  mark.  This  pitcher 
and  a  stone  ware  jug,  are  the  only  pieces  I  have 
ever  seen  bearing  this  extremely  rare  mark. 

Mark  4.    "  Norton  &  Fenton." 


\Fenton'sWorkSj\ 

Bennini|ton,l 

Vermont. 

%*^ 

Mark  5.  "  Fenton's  Works,  Bennington, 
Vt."  Mark  found  on  a  few  pieces  of  Parian  ware. 
Letters  impressed  in  a  raised  panel. 


72    HISTORY    OF    THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY 


Mark  6.  "  Lyman  Fenton  &  Co.  Fen- 
ton's  Enamel.  Patented,  1849.  Bennington,  Vt." 
This  mark  is  used  on  Lyman  &  Fenton's  Patent 
Flint  Enamelled  ware  in  1849.    Impressed. 


Mark  7.  "  The  United  States  Pottery,"  in 
three  designs.  No.  7 A  called  "  the  Ribbon 
Mark  "  and  was  used  at  the  United  States  Pottery 
of  Lyman  and  Fenton,  Bennington,  Vt.,  on  parian 
and  porcelain  about  1853.  The  letters  and  figures 
are  impressed  in  a  raised  ribbon.  The  figure  to 
the  right  varies  on  different  pieces  and  was  prob- 
ably the  pattern  number. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    BENNINGTON    POTTERY   73 


Mark  7B.  Mark  used  on  "  scrodled  "  and 
other  ware  made  at  the  United  States  Pottery. 
Impressed. 


4Y^^  POTTERY  CO.        ^ 

Mark  7C.  "  Medallion  Mark  "  of  the 
United  States  Pottery  Co.,  Bennington,  Vt.  See 
"  Water-fall  "  or  "  Niagara  "  Pitcher  No.  40,  in 
the  Pitkin  Collection. 

Also  white  Glazed  Parian  Pitcher.  Ivy- 
leaf  design.  Height  7  inches.  Glazed  inside  and 
out.    No.  17  in  the  Pitkin  Collection. 


lEarlg  Am^rtrmt  ^oik  Jpott^rg 


£t0t  0f  3fU«j0tralui«fi  of  tlj^ 

Plate  No.   I. 

Large  Pitcher,   Seymour  Pottery, 

1800     84 

No.  2. 

Stone  Ware  Jar.  Marked  "  Good- 
win and  Webster."     Height, 

io>4  inches.     1820 88 

No.  3. 

Large  Jar.     Decoration:   Incised 
Eagle  and  Fish  in  relief.  Yel- 
low   body    with     green     and 
black    colors.      Height,    8^ 
inches.    Seth  Goodwin,  West 

Hartford,  1 800 90 

No.  4. 

Large    Pie    Plate,    Wavy    Lines. 

Norwalk,  Conn 92 

No.  5. 

Large  Water  Cooler.  Marked: 
"  Hastings  and  Belding,  Ash- 
field,  Mass." 94 


78  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

No.  6. 

Covered  Jar  with  Ear  Handles. 
Height,  lo  inches.  Pink 
color  splashed  with  brown. 
Japanese  style,  Portland, 
Maine    9^ 

No.  7. 

Sgrafitto  Pie  Plate,  Presentation 
Piece  to  Elisabeth  Reiser. 
Samuel  Troxel,  Potter,  1827. 
Hanover,  Montgomery 
County,  Pa.  Inscribed  and 
signed  and  dated.  11  inches 
in  diameter.  Yellow  body, 
green,  red  and  brown  color. 
Tulip  Decoration   104 

No.  8. 

Large  deep  Dish.  Brown  and 
White  Slip.  Pennsylvania. 
Decoration,  Tulip  Motive. 
Diameter  I2>4  inches 106 

No.  9. 

Pitcher.  "  Hound  Handle."  Deco- 
ration, Hunting  Scene. 
Grapes  and  Leaves 108 


Mtrnhvutmn 


Mr.  Albert  Hastings  Pitkin  had  been  for 
several  years  collecting  material  for  the  preceding 
"  History  of  the  Bennington  Pottery."  He  had 
nearly  completed  it,  when  he  was  taken  away  by 
death,  October  the  fourteenth,  Nineteen  hundred 
and  seventeen. 

His  papers  on  it,  and  on  the  Early  Ameri- 
can Folk  Pottery,  which  he  was  equally  interested 
in,  were  found,  after  his  death,  to  be  In  such  con- 
dition, that  it  seemed  possible  to  collate  and  pub- 
lish them. 

The  completion  of  the  work,  has  been  done 
by  his  wife,  Mrs.  Albert  Hastings  Pitkin,  as  a 
Memorial  to  her  husband. 

Mrs.  Pitkin  begs  leave  to  express  her  sense 
of  Indebtedness  to  all  who  have  contributed,  In  any 
manner  to  the  information  contained  in  this  book, 
and  desires  particularly  to  express  her  thanks  to 
Mrs.  Florence  V.  Paull-Berger,  formerly  of  the 


8o  INTRODUCTION 


Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  now  General  Cura- 
tor of  the  Wadsworth  Atheneum,  Hartford, 
Conn.,  succeeding  Mr.  Albert  Hastings  Pitkin;  to 
Mr.  George  Francis  Dow  of  Essex  Institute, 
Salem,  Mass.;  to  Mr.  Henry  S.  Gates  of  Chicago, 
Ills.;  to  Dr.  Edwin  A.  Barber  of  Pennsylvania 
Museum,  Fairmount  Park,  Philadelphia;  to  Mr. 
Frederick  J.  Williamson  of  Montclair,  New  Jer- 
sey; to  Mr.  Henry  W.  Erving  and  Mr.  William 
T.  Pitkin  of  Hartford,  Conn.;  to  Mrs.  W.  B. 
Walker,  Mrs.  C.  H.  Emmons,  Mr.  William  G. 
Leake,  Mr.  George  Robinson,  Mr.  Andrew  Oat- 
man,  all  of  Bennington,  Vermont. 

The  negatives  (taken  by  Mr.  William  J. 
Hickmott)  of  the  various  specimens  of  pottery, 
are  from  the  "Albert  Hastings  Pitkin  Collec- 
tions," in  the  Pottery  Room  of  the  Morgan  Me- 
morial at  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  have  been  selected 
as  best  illustrating  the  various  classes  of  wares, 
mentioned  in  the  text. 


iEarlg  Amrrtrmt  Jnlk 


In  the  Spring  of  1884,  while  "  China  hunt- 
ing "  near  Hartford,  Conn.,  I  picked  up,  at  a  farm 
house,  two  pieces  of  "  Red  Clay  Pottery,"  lead 
glazed  and  slip  decorated.  Little  information 
could  be  obtained  regarding  them,  except,  that 
they  were,  probably,  more  than  fifty  years  old, 
and  at  one  time,  quite  common.  At  that  time,  I 
knew  of  no  such  pieces  in  the  hands  of  either 
dealer  or  collector.  Convinced  from  the  first  that 
they  were  of  home  manufacture,  I  began  to  study 
into  the  matter,  and  to  quietly  collect  all  similar 
pieces  available. 

Research  revealed,  that  like  wares  were 
produced  in  large  quantities  in  many  localities  of 
the  New  England  States,  during  a  period  from 
about  177 1  to  1850.     By  the  time  I  had  obtained 


82     EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

some  sixty  or  seventy  examples,  I  observed  other 
collectors,  as  well  as  dealers  giving  their  attention 
to  these  wares.  As  a  result  it  became  scarce  and 
rapidly  increased  in  value.  Today,  it  is  being 
sought  for,  for  Museum  Collections. 

By  searching  from  Maine  to  Pennsylvania, 
about  two  hundred  pieces  I  have  collected  and 
much  valuable  information  relating  thereto  has 
been  acquired. 

So  that,  by  judging  of  materials  used, 
workmanship,  glazes,  decorations,  etc.,  etc.,  one 
may  now  with  a  reasonable  amount  of  certainty, 
classify  these  productions,  allotting  them  to  certain 
states,  and,  even,  townships,  and  in  many  instances, 
to  individual  potters. 

The  Red  Clay  Pottery  of  New  England 
was  rarely,  if  ever,  signed  by  the  potter;  while  the 
Stone  Ware  frequently  was.  Examples  obtained 
from  an  aged  potter,  who  learned  his  trade  of  his 
grandfather,  and  sold  me  the  pieces  he  knew  were 
made  by  each  individual,  have  made  it  possible  to 
identify  wares  of  that  particular  pottery. 

In  the  Red  Clay  Pottery  of  the  New  Eng- 
land States,  and  that  of  Pennsylvania,  there  were 
many  points  in  common,  as  to  the  materials  used, 
methods  employed,  etc.  Still,  to  Pennsylvania,  all 
other  States  must  "  yield  the  palm  "  for  variety, 
elaborate  ornamentation,  and  designs,  as  well  as 
for  priority  of  production.  The  New  England 
potters  were  strongly  influenced  by  the  English, 
while  those  of  Pennsylvania,  by  the  Germans. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY  83 

In  an  old  house  in  Braintree,  England,  also 
in  the  Museum  in  Liverpool,  England,  I  saw  pot- 
tery dishes,  the  material  of  which,  the  workman- 
ship, color,  etc.,  closely  resembled  these  early  pro- 
ductions of  New  England.  They  were  attributed 
to  the  "late  17th,  or  early  i8th  Centuries"  and 
were  of  English  make. 

In  the  Rijks  Museum,  Amsterdam,  Hol- 
land, there  is  a  dish,  twenty-five  and  one-half 
inches  in  diameter,  elaborately  decorated  in  slip, 
with  an  inscription  in  Dutch,  signed  and  dated 
1770.  My  first  impression  of  this  piece  would 
lead  me  to  pronounce  it  Pennsylvania,  so  strongly 
does  it  resemble  such  wares,  in  all  respects.  By 
such  examples,  one  may  easily  trace  the  hereditary 
influences  on  the  early  potters  of  the  United  States. 

Prior  to  the  American  Revolution,  crock- 
ery of  any  kind,  was  by  no  means  a  common  article, 
in  the  New  England  home.  Independence  was  not 
only  declared  by  the  Colonies,  but  also  enacted. 
Home  manufactures  began  in  a  small  way.  These, 
encouraged  by  home  demand  and  consumption, 
aided  by  American  energy  and  Yankee  ingenuity 
(which  has  proven  well-nigh  creative)  and 
fostered  by  a  protective  Tariff,  have  grown  to  ex- 
ceed in  importance  those  of  any  other  nation  on 
Earth. 

At  first,  attention  was  given  to  the  manu- 
facture of  articles  most  needed  for  home  use,  re- 
quiring only  a  small  out-lay  for  the  plant,  and  not 
demanding  highly  skilled  labor. 


84     EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 


One  can  readily  see,  that  during  the  last 
quarter  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  numerous  small 
potteries  sprang  into  existence,  In  the  most  popu- 
lous centers  through-out  New  England.  These 
produced,  in  comparatively  large  quantities,  house- 
hold utensils,  low  in  price  and  made  in  great  vari- 
ety of  form,  size,  and  usefulness.  Their  crudeness 
alone,  makes  them  attractive,  and  on  some  we  find 
glazes  and  colors  unexcelled,  even  by  the  renowned 
Japanese  potters. 

Let  me  refer  to  a  pottery,  by  way  of  local 
interest  in  Hartford,  Conn.  This  pottery  stood  at 
the  South  East  corner  of  Park  Street  and  Quaker 
Lane,  Hartford  West  Division,  as  it  was  then 
called.  This  was  built  and  operated  about  1790, 
by  Nathaniel  Seymour  (Plate  No.  i).  From  the 
late  Major  Seymour,  a  grandson  of  Nathaniel,  I 
obtained  several  pieces  made  at  this  pottery;  some 
was  made  by  the  Major,  who  learned  the  trade 
from  his  Grandfather,  succeeding  him  in  business 
and  living  in  the  ancestral  home,  where  I  inter- 
viewed him,  and  from  the  attic  of  which  the 
pieces  were  brought  forth.  The  Major  related, 
that  up  to  about  1825,  their  out-put  consisted  of 
the  various  domestic  wares,  made  entirely  of  Con- 
necticut clay,  colored  by  the  use  of  cobalt,  iron, 
manganese,  copper,  etc.,  mixed  with  various 
clays.  From  Rocky  Hill  in  near  vicinity  a  sand 
was  obtained,  which  mixed  in  equal  parts  with  red 
lead,  produced  a  glaze  when  fired. 

Generally  four  men  were  employed  at  the 


No.  I. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 


wheels.     The  kiln  was  about  ten  feet  in  diameter 

Inside. 

Firing  lasted  from  twenty-four  to  thirty- 
six  hours  and  about  the  same  time  was  required  for 
cooling  off,  before  opening  the  kiln. 

They  fired  a  kiln  about  fifty  times  a  year. 
Assuming  that  it  took  the  greater  part  of  a  week 
for  each  kiln  full,  and  that  there  were  no  "  eight 
hour  laws  "  in  those  days,  one  wonders  if  they 
knew  the  meaning  of  Vacation.  We  are  led  to  be- 
lieve that  their  Neuritis  yielded  to  "  Opodeldoc," 
and  their  Appendicitis  to  "  Boneset  tea."  In  those 
days,  men  and  women  died  "  in  the  harness  "  and 
but  few  "  rusted  out." 

Pottery  was  retailed  at  the  potteries,  and 
much  was  disposed  of  by  peddlers  from  carts,  as 
they  traveled  through  the  State,  taking  various 
kinds  of  farm  produce  in  exchange,  as  the  tin- 
peddlers  did  up  to  about  1875. 

Dishes  of  one  gallon  capacity,  sold  for  one 
dollar  per  dozen.  Two  gallon  milk  pans,  for  one 
dollar  and  fifty  cents  per  dozen.  A  piece  must 
needs  have  been  large,  especially  well-potted,  and 
decorated,  to  have  brought  as  much  as  two 
"  Yankee  shillings." 

Major  Seymour  said,  that  cotemporaneous 
with  this  Seymour  Pottery,  were  several  in  Hart- 
ford, Fairfield,  New  London,  New  Haven,  and 
Windham  Counties.  Previous  to  1800,  the 
Messrs.  Goodwin  had  similar  potteries  in  what  is 
now  called  Elmwood. 


86     EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

After  1830,  the  out-put  of  the  Seymour 
Pottery  consisted  chiefly  of  un-glazed  flower  pots. 
This  Pottery  was  moved  "  up  the  Lane  "  a  quarter 
of  a  mile,  about  1840.  Major  Seymour  moved 
to  Michigan  in  1842,  thence  in  1849,  to  Ravenna, 
Ohio,  where  in  partnership  with  a  Mr.  Stedman, 
they  manufactured  *'  Stone  Ware,"  a  specimen  of 
which,  bearing  their  Firm  mark,  I  have  in  my  Col- 
lection of  Early  American  Folk  Pottery.  Major 
Seymour  served  in  the  Civil  War  in  the  Seventh 
Ohio  Infantry,  after  the  close  of  which,  he  re- 
turned to  his  ancestral  home  and  died  there  near 
the  close  of  1903.  Examples  of  the  Seymour  Pot- 
tery will  be  found  in  my  Collection  of  Early  Amer- 
ican Folk  Pottery  Room  of  the  Morgan  Memorial, 
Hartford,  Conn.,  Nos.  78,  80,  88,  90,  105. 

One  of  the  prominent  potteries  of  early 
days  was  the  "  Goodwin  Pottery  "  of  Hartford, 
and  West  Hartford,  Connecticut.  Ozias  Good- 
win, the  progenitor  of  the  family  of  Goodwin,  in 
this  country,  was  born  in  1596  and  md.  Mary 
Woodward  of  Braintree,  England.  He  was  first, 
in  Hartford,  as  a  "Land-holder"  in  1639  and 
died  in  1683.  His  first  son,  William,  died  in 
Hartford  in  1689.  William's  third  child, 
Nathaniel  died  in  1747.  Nathaniel's  fourth  child, 
Isaac,  of  West  Hartford.  Isaac's  ninth  child, 
Ebenezer,  b.  in  West  Hartford,  married  Anne 
Webster,  of  West  Hartford,  moved  to  New  Hart- 
ford about  1762-3  —  Died  May  i8th,  1810. 
Ebenezer's  fifth  child,  Seth,  b.  Aug.  12th,  1772,  in 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY      87 

New  Hartford.  He  moved  to  Hartford,  West 
Division.  He  married  1795  and  died  Oct.  3rd, 
1828.  He  was  a  Potter.  Seth's  second  child  was 
Thomas  O'Hara  Goodwin,  b.  1796,  md.  1821. 
He  died  July  6th,  1880.  He  was  a  Potter. 
Thomas'  fourth  child  was  George  Thomas  Good- 
win, b.  1837,  married  Susan  F.  Williams.  From 
Mr.  George  T.  Goodwin,  I  obtained  five  pieces  of 
the  Goodwin  Pottery. 

Ebenezer  Goodwin,  the  father  of  Seth,  the 
Potter.  His  ninth  child  Pitts,  was  born  in  New 
Hartford,  married  Miriam  Gilbert  in  1801.  He 
died  Aug.  2nd,  1864.  Their  first  child  Harvey, 
born  in  1802  in  New  Hartford.  He  probably 
learned  the  Potter's  trade  of  his  uncle,  Seth  Good- 
win, or  of  his  cousin,  Thomas.  In  1823,  he 
moved  to  Torringford  and  in  1827  to  West  Hart- 
ford, and  manufactured  Pottery.  He  began  the 
Pottery  business  on  his  own  account,  in  1832,  and 
continued  till  1870,  when  he  transferred  it  to  his 
sons,  Harvey  Burdett  Goodwin,  and  Wilbur  El- 
more Goodwin,  who  formed  the  firm  of  Goodwin 
Brothers. 

Ebenezer's  fifth  child  was  Seth.  Ebene- 
zer's  tenth  child  was  Horace  H.  Ebenezer's 
grandchild  by  his  ninth  son,  Pitts  was  Harvey. 
Seth  and  Thomas  H.  had  pottery  In  Hartford 
West  Division.  Horace  had  a  Pottery  in  Hart- 
ford and  the  Firm  name  was  "  Goodwin  and  Web- 
ster." He  died  In  1850.  Harvey,  "Goodwin 
Brothers,  Elmwood."     (Plate  No.  2.) 


88     EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

The  list  of  the  then  famous  Goodwin  Pot- 
ters is  then,  Seth,  Thomas  O'Hara,  Horace,  and 
Harvey.  Examples  of  the  Goodwin  potters  in  my 
Collection  in  the  Pottery  Room  of  the  Morgan 
Memorial,  Hartford,  Conn.,  Include  a  jug,  marked 
"Goodwin  and  Webster"  1818-20,  "Webster 
and  Seymour  "  hot  water  bottle  and  Daniel  Good- 
ale  about  1818,  "  C.  Webster  and  Son,"  1826, 
and  others. 

In  this  little  treatise  on  Early  American 
Pottery,  I  shall  confine  my  attention  to  the  fictile 
productions  of  the  American  Folk,  and  used  by 
American  Folk,  as  exemplified  in  the  work  of  our 
English  and  European  ancestors  who  were  arnong 
the  early  settlers  in  this  country.  The  Pottery 
made  by  the  aborigines  will  have  no  consideration, 
because  It  was  an  un-glazed  ware  and  because  It 
belongs  essentially  to  Ethnological  study. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  Seventeenth  Cen- 
tury, there  were  a  number  of  potters  in  Virginia, 
probably  emigrants  from  England.  The  early 
Dutch  settlers  In  New  York  are  said  "  to  have 
made  a  ware  equal  to  that  produced  In  Dellft, 
Holland." 

In  a  description  of  Philadelphia,  published 
in  1697,  we  read  "  Potters  have  sixteen  pence  for 
an  earthern  pot  which  may  be  bought  in  England 
for  fourpence."  One  Joshua  Tittery,  came  to 
Pennsylvania  from  New-Castle-on-Tyne,  in  1683, 
and  in  his  Will,  calls  himself  a  Potter.  Dr.  Daniel 
Coxe,  of  London,  a  Proprietor  of  West  New  Jer- 


No.   2. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY      89 

sey,  and  afterwards  its  Governor,  although  he  did 
not  come  to  America,  had  erected  a  pottery  at 
Burlington,  New  Jersey  about  1685.  This  was 
managed  by  his  son,  Daniel,  and  his  Agent,  John 
Tatham.  In  the  Bodleian  Library,  at  Oxford, 
England,  is  a  manuscript  relating  to  this  Pottery, 
which  reads  in  part,  as  follows:  —  "I  have 
erected  a  pottery  att  Burlington  for  white  and 
chiney  ware."  "  I  have  two  houses  and  kilns  with 
all  necessary  implements." 

It  is  certain  that  bricks  were  made  in  this 
country,  soon  after  the  arrival  of  the  first  colo- 
nists, although  many  were  also  imported  to  this 
country  from  Holland  and  England  in  the  Seven- 
teenth Century.  Flat  roofing  tiles,  too,  were  made 
by  the  Germans  of  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  in  the 
style  of  those  used  in  their  native  country.  These 
were  rectangular,  curved  at  one  end,  with  a  slight 
grooving  on  the  upper  side  to  allow  the  rain  to 
run  off. 

The  body  of  the  American  Red  Ware,  is 
of  a  fine,  close  texture,  resembling  somewhat,  the 
European  un-glazed  red  pottery,  such  as  was  made 
by  Elers  and  his  imitators.  Some  of  it  is  simply 
covered  with  a  wash  of  lead,  which  deepens  its 
color.  Other  pieces  have  been  dipped  in  a  thin 
slip,  which  only  partially  covers  the  clay,  and  gives 
a  mottled  surface.  This  is  very  attractively  ex- 
emplified in  some  specimens  of  Connecticut  Red 
Ware.     Again,  streaks  of  orange,  green  or  black 


90  EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 


are    introduced    producing    charming    cloud-like 
effects  or  "  smoke-splashes." 

To  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Henry  W.  Erving 
of  Hartford  we  are  indebted  for  the  following 
interesting  extract  from  the  Hartford  Evening 
Post  of  the  date  May  26th,  1883. 

"  Recollections  of  Albert  Risley,  a  potter 
for  sixty  years  in  Pottery  No.  38  Front  Street,  of 
Messrs.  O.  H.  Seymour  and  Stanley  B.  Bosworth. 

"  From  what  I  have  heard  in  years  gone 
by  some  time  previous  to  1800,  about  1790,  John 
Souter,  an  Englishman  came  to  Hartford,  and 
built  a  pottery  on  the  north-east  corner  of  Potter 
and  Front  Streets.  He  continued  in  the  earthern- 
ware  manufacturing,  until  1805,  when  he  sold  out, 
to  Peter  Cross.  Cross  a  few  years  later,  removed 
to  38  Front  Street,  having  sold  out  the  old  place  to 
Horace  Goodwin  and  McCloud  Webster.  Cross 
met  with  little  success  and  sold  out  to  Captain 
George  Benton  and  Captain  Levi  Stuart,  two  re- 
turned sea-captains. 

"  Daniel  Goodale,  Jr.,  came  from 
Whately,  Mass.,  to  manage  the  business,  and  in 
18 1 8,  purchased  the  pottery.  He  continued  in 
possession  until  1830,  when  he  sold  out  to  Good- 
win and  Webster,  who  ran  it.  In  connection  with 
their  corner  pottery.  About  1850,  the  corner  lot 
was  sold  to  D.  F.  Robinson,  and  the  firm  dissolved, 
Mr.  Webster  continuing  with  his  son,  Mr.  C.  T. 
Webster.  Webster  and  Son  were  located  at  No. 
38  Front  Street  and  the  business  was  quite  success- 


No.  3. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY      9 1 

ful.  Mr.  Webster  died  in  1857  and  O.  H.  Sey- 
mour was  admitted  to  the  firm.  About  1873,  the 
present  firm,  Seymour  and  Bosworth,  was  organ- 
ized. Many  years  ago,  Boston  began  to  get  her 
eathernware  from  Hartford,  and  it  was  here  that 
the  celebrated  '  bean  pots  '  were  made.  Besides 
these,  cake-pots,  butter-pots,  tea-pots,  flower-pots, 
beer  bottles,  beer  mugs,  beer  fountains,  butter- 
pails,  water  coolers  and  milk-pans." 

In  Gardner's  Hartford  City  Directory  for 
May  3rd,  1840,  is  found  the  following  list: 

Henry  Webster,  Potter,  h.  Coles  St. 

M.  C.  Webster  &  Son,  Pottery  27  —  h.  18 
Front  Street, 

T.  D.  &  S.  Boardman,  Manufacturers  of  Block 
Tin  and  Pewter  Ware,  No.  274^4  Main  Street, 

Thomas  D.  Boardman,  h.  274  Main  Street, 

Sherman  Boardman  (T.  D.  &  S.),  h.  67  Trum- 
bull Street, 

Andrew  F.  Hastings  Dry  Goods  219,  h.  237 
Main  Street, 

Benjamin  Hastings,  Collector  of  Taxes,  h.  40 
Village  Street, 

Henry  Hastings,  h.  35  Windsor  Street, 

H.  and  J.  F.  Pitkin,  Jewellers,  211  Main,  h. 
East  Hartford, 

Potter  Street  from  13  Front,  east  to  Dutch 
Point, 

City  Officers,  City  Sheriffs,  Benjamin  Hastings, 

Collector,  Benjamin  Hastings. 


92     EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

Hartford  seems  to  have  been  the  center 
for  the  manufacture  of  Hollow  Ware  such  as 
jugs,  crocks,  pitchers,  etc.  —  So,  from  Norwalk 
came  the  heavy  pie  plates,  decorated  with  wavy 
lines  of  cream-colored  slip,  or  with  the  owners 
name.  Mention  is  found  of  one  Mr.  Day  of 
South  Norwalk,  who  owned  a  pottery  about 
1825. 

Mr.  George  E.  Webb  of  Norwalk  stated 
that  the  old  Norwalk  pottery  sent  out  peddler 
wagons  through  Westport  to  Bridgeport,  about 
i860.  He  also  stated  that  about  1902  the  "  Old 
Brick  Pottery "  building  was  restored  and  en- 
larged and  became  a  paper  mill.  There  was  also 
a  firm  Asa  Smith  and  Sons.  One  of  the  sons, 
Elbert  Smith,  who  was  about  seventy  years  old 
when  in  correspondence  with  Mr.  Pitkin  in  1907, 
was  one  of  the  potters  of  the  firm.  Some  of  this 
pottery  is  dated  1859. 

During  the  third  week  of  August,  1908, 
while  at  Ashfield,  Mass.,  I  found  an  old  stone 
ware  churn  with  the  following  mark  thereon,  viz. : 

"  HASTINGS  &  BELDING  " 
"ASHFIELD,  MASS." 

This  mark  was  impressed  on  the  upper  front  of  the 
churn.  Upon  inquiry,  I  found  that  a  Stone-Ware 
Pottery  once  existed  at  a  place  called  "  Tin  Pot," 
so-called,  because  there  was  a  tin-ware  shop,  as 
well  as  a  pottery,  located  there.  This  place  is  now 
known  as  South  Ashfield,  Massachusetts. 


No.  4. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY      93 

To  South  Ashfield  I  went,  eager  for  in- 
formation and  pottery.  Of  the  former,  I  ob- 
tained the  following  facts,  from  several  of  the 
older  inhabitants  of  the  village,  a  leading  one  of 
whom  was  Mr.  Charles  H.  Day,  well-known  and 
of  great  reputation  as  a  maker  of  surgical  splints. 
Mr.  Day  told  me  that  about  1 847-1 848,  Walter 
Orcutt  built  the  pottery  at  South  Ashfield,  using 
the  firm  name  as  a  mark  of  their  wares  of  "  W.  & 
E.  Orcutt  &  Co."  Eleazur  Orcutt  attended  to 
the  firing. 

About  1850,  they  were  succeeded  by  Wel- 
lington Hastings,  of  Wilmington,  Vermont,  and 
David  Belding  of  Whately,  Mass.,  under  the  firm 
name  of  "  Hastings  &  Belding."  They  failed 
about  1854,  and  were  succeeded  by  Staats  D.  Van 
Loon,  associated  with  George  Boyden,  from  Con- 
way, Massachusetts.  They  continued  the  works 
until  about  1856,  when  the  pottery  industry  be- 
came abandoned,  probably,  because  of  the  coming 
on  of  the  hard  times  of  1857,  also  because  of  the 
competition  of  the  Bennington  Wares. 

The  building  was  used  as  a  black-smith's 
shop  until  the  Flood  of  December  loth,  1878, 
which  broke  away  the  dam  at  Ashfield,  destroyed 
buildings  in  its  path  and  swept  away  the  old  black- 
smith's shop,  formerly  a  pottery,  leaving  the  roof 
thereof  in  a  lot  below.  The  out-put  of  this  pot- 
tery seems  to  have  consisted,  entirely,  of  Stone- 
Ware  for  house-hold  uses,  such  as  jugs,  jars, 
crocks  and  churns.    They  employed  only  six  or 


94 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 


seven  men,  had  but  one  kiln  and  three  turners. 
Most  of  the  clay  used,  was  brought  from  Perth 
Amboy,  New  Jersey. 

Mrs,  John  Luther  Guilford,  of  South  Ash- 
field,  Mass.,  stated  that  Wellington  Hastings  was 
her  uncle,  and  David  Belding  was  her  step-father. 
Her  maiden  name  was  Harriet  S.  Stanley,  daugh- 
ter of  Rufus  Allen  Stanley  of  Wilmington,  Ver- 
mont. Harriet  Sophia  Stanley,  as  a  young  girl 
was  frequently  at  the  pottery  and  often  at  play 
there,  becoming  the  favorite  of  one  Wight,  the 
principal  turner,  employed  in  the  Pottery.  For 
her  special  use,  Wight  made  a  money-bank  bearing 
the  inscription  impressed,  "  Harriet  S.  Stanley, 
1850.  Aug.  17th."  (This  appears  twice  in  paral- 
lel lines  across  the  bank.)  Wight,  also,  made  for 
her,  a  miniature  churn,  complete,  in  grey  Stone- 
Ware  ornamented  in  cobalt  blue,  and  washed  in- 
side, with  a  leatherish  brown  color.  This  bears 
the  firm  mark,  "  HASTINGS  &  BELDING  " 
"ASHFIELD,  MASS." 

On  the  reverse  side,  length-wise  across  the  churn, 
written  in  script,  in  cobalt  blue  reads  "August, 
1852  "  (which  strange  to  say,  is  the  month  and 
year  of  my  birth).  This  churn  is  now  in  my  pos- 
session, I  having  purchased  same  from  Mrs.  John 
Luther  Guilford  in  the  presence  of  her  husband,  at 
their  house,  Aug.  27,  1908,  and  it  is  in  the  Pitkin 
Collection  in  the  Morgan  Memorial,  Hartford, 
Conn. 


No.  5. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY     95 

Among  the  South  Norwalk  products  were 
knobs  for  doors,  furniture,  and  shutters,  com- 
posed of  Red,  White  and  Black  clays,  mixed  to- 
gether and  covered  with  the  brown  Rockingham 
glaze.  Previously,  pottery  coat  buttons  had  been 
made.  They  were  either  moulded  or  pressed  in 
dies  and  had  four  perforations  either  for  the 
thread  or  a  metal  shank.  They  were  of  two  quali- 
ties, a  coarse  red  body,  covered  with  a  light  brown 
glaze,  and  a  fine  white  body,  with  a  good  mottled 
glaze.  There  are  specimens  of  both  knobs  and 
buttons  in  the  Pitkin  Collection.  Capt.  Enoch 
Wood,  a  cousin  of  the  great  Staffordshire  potter, 
was  interested  in  this  industry.  He  had  first  been 
employed  at  the  Bennington  works,  but  left  there, 
to  go  to  South  Norwalk,  where  he  became  part 
owner,  in  1856.  No  buttons  were  made,  however, 
after  1853. 

We  find  Records  of  Potteries  in  Connecti- 
cut as  follows : 

At  Norwalk,  as  early  as  1780. 

At  Norwich,  as  early  as  1796. 

At  Stonington,  as  early  as  1798. 

At  Hartford  and  vicinity  the  last  quarter  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century,  witnessed  the  establishment 
of  several  small  potteries. 

In  Massachusetts,  potteries  were  estab- 
lished as  early  as  the  first  quarter  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  at  Peabody.  In  1765,  Abraham  Hews 
established  in  Weston,  Mass.,  the  terra-cotta 
works  which  later  were  removed  to  Cambridge. 

7 


96     EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

At  first,  bean-pots,  pudding  and  milk  pans,  jugs, 
etc.,  were  made  and  exchanged  for  needed  com- 
modities. The  business  Increased  rapidly  and  be- 
fore the  fire  In  1891,  It  is  claimed  that  more  flower- 
pots were  made  here,  than  In  any  other  establish- 
ment In  the  world.  At  that  time,  they  specialized 
in  ornamental  garden  vases,  jardinieres,  etc.,  etc. 

In  the  paper  on  "  Early  American  Pot- 
tery "  which  Miss  Florence  V.  Paull  read  at  a 
Sunday  afternoon  lecture  at  the  Metropolitan 
Museum,  New  York,  this  winter.  Is  the  following: 

"  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  George  Francis 
Dow  of  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  for  the  fol- 
lowing notes  on  the  early  industry,  at  Peabody, 
Mass.,  and  its  vicinity. 

Jonathan  Kettle  of  Peabody,  Mass.,  Is 
mentioned  as  a  potter  In  1731.  His  estate  at  31 
Andover  Street  was  sold  to  Joseph  Whittemore, 
In  the  same  trade,  about  1765. 

Joseph  Osborne,  1702-1780,  had  a  place 
on  Central  Street  and  the  business  descended  In 
the  family,  from  father  to  son,  until  the  death  of 
William,  In  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Miles  Kendall  (1796-1875),  who  when 
he  married  in  1824,  is  said  to  have  made  jugs  for 
each  of  his  brothers  and  sisters.  Instead  of  receiv- 
ing wedding  presents  from  them. 

The  mother  of  Joseph  W.  Reed,  another 
potter,  was  the  daughter  of  Joseph  Whittemore 
already  mentioned. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY      97 

Connected  with  the  factory  of  William 
Southwick  at  161  Lowell  Street  were  his  son 
(1759-1828),  and  grandson  James  Chapman 
Southwick  ( 1 793-1 841).  An  almost  black  glaze 
was  the  distinguishing  mark  of  Southwick's  prod- 
ucts, of  which  the  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  has  some 
very  excellent  examples.  Tea-pots,  bottles,  small 
jars,  mugs,  etc.,  seem  to  have  been  the  out-put  of 
this  factory,  rather  than  larger  vessels.  There  are 
a  good  many  pieces  In  the  Collection  which  bear 
the  maker's  name;  for  Instance,  a  "  Stone  ware  " 
jug,  of  the  early  form  with  a  full  rounded  body 
and  a  small  neck,  and  base.  Is  Inscribed  on  the 
shoulder  '  Barnabas  Edmunds  and  Co.,  Charles- 
ton.' Another  has  '  L.  &  B.  G.  Chase  Somerset.' 
Presumably,  Massachusetts. 

It  Is  Interesting  to  know  that  Mr.  Pit- 
kin's love  for  this  Folk  Pottery  was  first  aroused 
by  having  given  him  a  little  jar,  which  was 
brought  from  Salem,  Mass.  Perhaps  it  had  been 
made  at  one  of  these  Peabody  factories. 

Very  typical  also  of  the  pottery  made  at 
Salem,  is  a  brilliant  red-brown  lead  glaze,  on 
which  appear  occasional  heavy  dark  brown 
splashes.  So-called  herb  pitchers  with  flat  covers, 
and  a  few  moulded  lines  around  the  body,  were 
made  at  Peabody.  Beer  mugs,  and  pitchers  of 
Stone  Ware,  rootbeer  bottles  with  the  dealers' 
name  on  the  front,  large  preserve  jars,  jugs 
marked  with  their  capacity  j^  or  3  gallons,  the 
straight  sided  bean  pot  of  red  clay,  glazed  only 


98     EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 


on  the  Inside,  and  holding  several  gallons,  pottery 
churns  with  wooden  plungers,  huge  milk  pans, 
stew  pans,  and  pudding  dishes  were  all  In  common 
use  in  the  Eighteenth  and  early  Nineteenth  Cen- 
turies."     (Miss  Paull.) 

There  was  quite  a  large  pottery  at  Dan- 
vers,  Mass.  Near  Portland,  Maine  there  was  a 
small  pottery  (Plate  6),  where  the  rich  colorings 
of  the  glazes  made  there,  about  1820,  have  never 
been  equalled,  surpassed  if  equalled,  by  the  other 
makers  of  the  early  Red  Clay  Wares.  Thus  it  is 
that  these  potteries  cited  above,  localize  and  period 
the  early  beginnings  of  the  making  of  American 
pottery. 

It  is  well  known  that  early  American  pot- 
tery was  of  only  two  varieties;  all  records  and  all 
existing  examples  prove  this.  The  first  was  gen- 
erally known  as  Stone  Ware,  and  was  highly  vitri- 
fied, and  salt-glazed.  The  second  was  generally 
of  a  much  softer  body  and  glazed  with  lead.  It 
was  commonly  known  as  Red  Ware.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  decide  as  to  the  priority  of  date,  of  either 
of  these,  except  in  the  various  localities  of  their 
production.  Clay  used  in  the  making  of  Red 
Ware  is  abundant  in  many  localities.  This  being 
ordinary  red  clay  thoroughly  levigated  and  freed 
from  grit,  such  as  bricks  were  made  from;  while 
that  needed  to  make  the  Stone  Ware  was  blue  clay, 
not  so  freely  found  In  New  England  as  in  New 
Jersey  and  New  York  State.  Hence,  we  are  liable 
to  find  the  earliest  pieces  made  in  the  latter  two 


No.  6. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY      99 

States  were  Stone  Ware,  and  those  of  New  Eng- 
land Red  Ware.  This  was  true,  except  In  Con- 
necticut, where  the  two  varieties  are  about  equally 
divided. 

The  earliest  known  examples,  from  Penn- 
sylvania and  Virginia,  are  Red  Wares.  The  kilns 
required  for  the  firing  of  Stone  Ware  were  large, 
and  expensive  to  build,  and  the  product  demanded 
considerable  skill  in  the  making.  For  Red  Ware 
the  kilns  were  much  smaller  and  less  expensive,  as 
many  of  the  earlier  potteries  were  small  affairs 
and  the  wares  less  skillfully  made  and  in  some 
cases,  afforded  a  secondary  occupation  to  farming, 
oftentimes,  not  more  than  two  or  three  men  were 
employed  with  a  boy  as  a  helper.  We  find  the  Red 
Ware  potteries  the  most  numerous,  and  the  exist- 
ing examples  of  these  wares,  especially  of  the  com- 
moner shapes,  more  plentiful  than  Stone  Ware, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Stone  Ware  is 
the  most  durable. 

Crocks,  jars,  bottles,  pitchers,  milk-pans, 
churns,  mugs,  ring-bottles,  and  ink-stands  are 
among  the  shapes,  common  to  both  wares.  While 
plates,  bread-trays,  bean-pots,  furniture  and  door- 
knobs, buttons,  bowls,  tea-pots,  sugar-bowls,  vases, 
money-banks,  toys,  shelf-ornaments,  are  pieces 
more  closely  identified  with  Red  Ware. 

Perhaps  a  short  account  of  the  old  methods 
employed  in  making  pottery,  may  be  of  interest 
as  it  will  apply  in  a  general  way  to  the  making  of 
all  the  American  Red  Ware  which  has  been  men- 


100    EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

tioned.      Even  today,   the  processes   are  similar, 
the  appliances  alone  are  less  primitive. 

In  the  fall  of  the  year,  the  clay  was  dug 
from  the  clay-pit  and  taken  to  the  clay-mill  to  be 
ground.  This  mill  was  an  upright  post,  set  with 
several  knives  which  revolved  in  a  stationary  tub, 
or  vat,  and  was  turned  by  horse-power.  Water 
was  mixed  with  the  clay,  and  after  about  an  hour's 
grinding,  it  became  a  soft  yellowish  mass,  which 
was  taken  out  on  a  bench  and  formed  into  rectan- 
gular blocks.  These  weighed  about  one  hundred 
pounds  a  piece,  and  were  closely  piled  in  the  cellar 
of  the  shop,  to  keep  them  moist  and  to  prevent 
them  from  freezing.  As  the  potter  needed  mate- 
rial, it  was  brought  from  the  cellar  to  the  work- 
bench, where  lumps  of  the  size  required  for  use, 
were  cut  off  and  kneaded  thoroughly.  All  gravel 
and  foreign  matter  was  picked  out,  and  air  bub- 
bles removed  by  slapping.  The  potter  next  cut 
off  a  smaller  piece,  sufficient  for  one  pot  or  dish. 
This  he  threw  on  the  revolving  table  of  the  wheel, 
shaping  it  with  his  hands  and  fingers,  and  smooth- 
ing the  outside  with  a  small  piece  of  wood  or 
leather.  As  a  finishing  touch,  a  wet  sponge  was 
passed  over  both  inside  and  outside.  The  wheel 
was  then  stopped,  a  fine  wire  was  passed  under  the 
pot  to  loosen  it  from  the  board,  and  it  was  set 
away  to  dry.  After  a  few  days,  when  thoroughly 
dry,  the  base  was  smoothed  off,  and  the  handles 
and  the  spouts  apphed. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY     10 1 

Next  came  the  glazing,  and  if  this  was 
not  done  at  the  right  time,  the  glaze  was  liable  to 
peel  off.  The  glaze  was  composed  of  lead,  mixed 
with  water  and  a  little  fine  clay.  The  inside  of  a 
jar  was  glazed  by  pouring  the  liquid  in,  and  whirl- 
ing the  pot  around,  until  all  spots  were  covered. 
The  remaining  glaze  was  then  poured  out.  The 
out-side  glaze  was  applied  by  dipping  the  object 
into  the  liquid.  After  drying  once  more,  the 
object  was  fired  in  a  kiln  for  about  thirty-six  hours, 
and  allowed  to  cool  for  a  week. 

The  lead  glaze  could  be  darkened  by  add- 
ing manganese,  and  a  greenish  tone  was  produced 
by  verdigris,  which  was  often  daubed  on  the  ware 
itself,  giving  it  a  mottled  effect. 

Pie-plates  were  made  by  rolling  out  the 
clay-like  dough,  into  thin  cakes,  which  were  cut 
by  a  die  cutter,  into  the  proper  sizes,  and  set  away 
to  get  partially  dry. 

Then  the  slip  decoration  was  applied,  and 
beaten  into  the  clay,  making  an  even  surface. 
Now,  the  clay  was  allowed  to  become  about  half 
dry,  when  it  was  ready  to  be  shaped  over  the 
heavy  clay  moulds  and  the  edges  trimmed  and 
finished  with  the  "  coggle  "  which  made  the  ser- 
rations seen  on  nearly  all  of  these  plates.  When 
perfectly  dry,  and  after  being  slightly  warmed,  the 
lead  glaze  was  applied  on  the  inside  of  the  plates 
only,  by  means  of  a  large  paint  brush. 

"  Presentation  pieces  "  did  not  have  the 
slip  beaten  in,  because  they  were  not  for  use.    So 


I02    EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

the  decoration  was  allowed  to  stand  out  in  slight 
relief.  These  pieces,  because  they  were  intended 
to  be  ornamental,  were  taken  greater  care  of,  and 
are  now  more  plentiful  than  the  other  pieces. 
(Miss  Paull.) 

At  the  Exhibition  connected  with  the 
Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  in  New  York  in  1909, 
Mr.  Pitkin  sent  twenty  pieces  of  red  clay  wares 
from  his  Collection.  These  twenty  pieces  were 
made  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  and 
first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  were 
selected  particularly  to  show  the  variety  of  shapes, 
sizes,  colors,  and  decorations,  and  were  from 
Maine,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. Conventional  pie-plates  and  flat  wares 
were  avoided  in  this  selection.  From  Maine  were 
sent  from  Mr.  Pitkin's  Collection  No.  i.  Mustard 
Pot,  No.  3.  Round  jug.  No.  5.  Pot,  No.  6.  Jug. 
These  all  are  from  the  vicinity  of  Portland, 
Maine,  and  of  exceptionally  fine  colors,  for  Red 
Clay  Wares. 

From  Massachusetts  were  sent  No.  27. 
small  pitcher,  No.  29.  mug.  No.  31.  small  mug. 
These  were  selected  because  of  their  quaint  shapes 
and  sizes. 

From  Connecticut  were  sent  No.  67.  lion 
ornament  signed  "  John  Sanders  18 17  ",  No.  80. 
large  water  pitcher  made  at  the  Seymour  Pottery, 
West  Hartford,  about  1790,  the  color  effect  pro- 
duced by  yellow  "  splotches  "  shot  with  green. 
No.  81.  child's  bank,  with  white  slip  decoration. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY    IO3 

No.  164.  black  glaze  jug,  New  London  County. 
No.  166.  Cider  pitcher,  rare  shape  and  color. 
(Eastern  Connecticut).  No.  43.  Jar,  No.  54. 
Pitcher,  vine  tracery  in  color.  No.  55.  Mug, 
Eastern  Conn.,  green  slip,  fish  motive.  No.  57. 
Tall  cylindrical  mug,  dark  chocolate.  No.  58. 
Small  covered  jar,  fine  coloring  and  tortoise- 
shell  effect.  No.  64.  Water-pitcher,  *'  smoke 
splotched  "  decoration. 

From  Pennsylvania  were  sent  No.  150. 
Preserve  jar  with  rope  handles.  Dated  181 1. 
Decoration  an  American  eagle,  fish  and  flowers  in- 
cised, and  in  green  on  a  buff  ground.  No.  151. 
Gourd  shaped  vase,  splotched  decoration  in  Japan- 
ese taste.  (The  numbers  refer  to  Mr.  Pitkin's 
Collection  in  the  Pottery  Room  of  the  Morgan 
Memorial,   Hartford,    Connecticut.) 

This  Collection  consists  of  about  two  hun- 
dred pieces,  those  of  especially  fine  coloring  may 
be  noted  in  Nos.  i,  2,  3,  5,  6,  11,  33,  34,  44,  50, 
54»  57»  58,  60,  64,  80,  99,  100,  137,  138,  150, 
^5i>  i53»  "^SS^  i5^»  ^^°»  ^^4»  i^^'  ^^8-  Those 
showing  the  early  period  of  Connecticut  make, 
are  found  under  Nos.  50,  51,  52,  53,  54,  64,  80, 
166.  Examples  of  the  less  common  shapes  are 
Nos.  I,  6,  II,  33,  34,  43,  54,  59,  67,  74,  80,  81, 
99,  loi,  102,  108,  149,  151,  152,  154,  155,  156, 
160,  166,  168.  Pieces  made  to  order  or  Gift 
Pieces  are  Nos.  38,  39,  41,  85,  95,  97,  98,  103, 
106,  116,  117,  and  especially  No.  170.  Those 
bearing  potter's  marks  are  Nos.  11,   12,  13,   15, 


104    EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

i6,  17,  18,  19,  20,  21,  22,  23,  67,  118,  119,  122, 
123,  125,  148,  152,  168,  170. 

Particular  attention  is  called  to  No.  170. 
A  pie  plate  (Plate  7)  of  Pennsylvana  "Sgraf- 
fito "  ware  extremely  interesting.  Dr.  Edwin  A. 
Barber  refers  to  this  dish  in  his  book  entitled 
*'  The  Tulip  Ware  of  the  Pennsylvania  German 
Potters.  Philadelphia,  1903,"  on  page  168  and 
on  page  165,  illustration  No.  66,  is  given  a  com- 
panion piece  to  it.  Much  interest  centers  around 
this  piece  in-as-much  as  the  plate  mentioned  on 
page  165  was  the  first  piece  of  this  ware  to  attract 
attention  to  the  existence  of  incised,  inscribed  slip 
ware  made  in  the  United  States.  This  ex- 
ample. No.  170,  Is  well  worthy  of  study,  being 
fine  In  color,  workmanship,  and  design.  It  is  a 
Gift  or  Presentation  piece.  Inscribed  with  the  re- 
cipient's name,  dated  on  both  sides.  On  the  re- 
verse side  is  scratched  In  the  clay  "  Elizabeth 
Reiser,  1827,  in  Upper  Hanuker  Township, 
Montgomery  County,  Samuel  Troxel,  Potter." 
with  German  lettering. 

In  incised  or  Sgraffitto  ware,  which  is 
peculiar  to  Pennsylvania,  the  red  clay  was  covered 
with  a  coating  of  white  slip,  through  which  the 
design  was  cut,  allowing  the  red  clay  underneath 
to  show.  These  designs  were  often  partially 
filled  with  other  colors,  green,  brown,  red,  etc.,  etc. 

Inscriptions  formed  borders  around  the 
edges  and  often  included  the  date  or  the  owner's 
name. 


No.  7. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY     IO5 

George  Hubener  was  one  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania German  potters  who  used  this  style  of  deco- 
ration and  was  one  of  the  most  elaborate.  The 
exact  location  of  his  pottery  is  not  known  but  the 
family  name  was  at  one  time  common  in  Mont- 
gomery County,  Pennsylvania,  about  1793. 
Another  Pennsylvania  German  potter  was  Joseph 
Smith,  who  began  business  about  1763. 

To  Pennsylvania  must  be  given  the  first 
place  in  the  development  of  the  Early  American 
Pottery.  This  was  the  "  most  interesting  of  all 
the  States  in  this  industry,  from  1733  to  'the 
middle  of  the  Nineteenth  Century."  Dr.  Edwin 
A.  Barber  of  Philadelphia  has  written  very  ex- 
haustively on  this  subject.  In  Miss  Florence  V. 
Paull's  Lecture  on  "  Early  American  Pottery  " 
she  states  the  following:  "The  most  decorative 
and  interesting  of  the  early  American  Potteries,  is 
that  made  by  the  German  settlers  in  Pennsylvania 
from  1733  to  the  middle  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, and  thanks  to  Dr.  Barber's  researches,  many 
facts  have  come  to  light  regarding  it.  The  name 
'  Tulip  Ware  '  had  been  given  to  it,  because  of  the 
frequent  use  of  the  tulip  as  an  element  in  its  deco- 
ration. The  first  discovery  of  this  was  made  by 
Dr.  Edwin  A.  Barber,  in  1891,  when  he  found 
that  a  sgraffitto,  decorated  pie  plate  which  he  had 
supposed  European,  had  an  inscription  around  the 
edge,  in  Pennsylvania  Dutch,  a  distinct  German 
dialect,  mixed  with  English. 


I06    EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

This  plate  was  the  nucleus  of  what  is 
now  the  most  complete  Collection  of  this  Pottery 
in  this  country.  Many  of  the  pieces  he  obtained 
from  descendants  of  the  makers,  and  the  informa- 
tion that  came  with  them  has  helped  to  identify  the 
work  of  some  of  the  numerous  potteries,  which 
were  known  to  exist  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania.  The 
earliest  German  immigrants  to  Pennsylvania  came 
from  the  Upper  Rhine  in  1683.  They  continued 
to  arrive  in  large  numbers  from  the  provinces  and 
cities  to  the  east  and  west  of  the  Rhine  and  from 
Switzerland,  until  about  1727,  after  which  immi- 
gration increased  enormously  up  to  the  Revolution. 
The  large  number  of  foreigners,  entering  the  port 
of  Philadelphia,  so  alarmed  the  officials,  that  they 
required  all  masters  of  vessels  to  prepare  lists  of 
their  passengers,  and  all  foreigners  were  obliged 
to  sign  a  Declaration  of  Allegiance  and  Subjection 
to  the  King  and  of  Fidelity  to  the  Proprietary  of 
Pennsylvania.  Many  of  the  first  German  settlers 
were  well-to-do  and  besides  paying  all  the  expenses 
of  their  journey  to  America,  they  bought  large 
tracts  of  land  after  their  arrival. 

About  17 1 7,  however,  the  masses  of  the 
poorer  classes  began  to  come,  excited  by  the  favor- 
able accounts  sent  back  by  those  who  had  preceded 
them.  No  doubt,  potteries  were  soon  established, 
to  supply  house-hold  needs.  But  the  earliest  piece 
so  far  known,  is  dated  1733  (a  shaving  basin). 
The  Rhine  provinces  were  a  great  producing  sec- 
tion, and  it  naturally  followed  that  the  wares  made 


No.  8. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY     IO7 

by  the  peoples  from  that  section  should  closely 
resemble  what  they  had  made  In  their  native  land. 
The  potters  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  little 
by  little  were  obliged  to  move  farther  to  the 
west  in  the  State. 

Three  techniques  were  employed  in  the 
decoration  of  the  large  plates  which  are  more  fre- 
quently found,  than  Hollow  ware,  although  there 
are  several  such  pieces,  in  a  very  large  and  com- 
plete Collection  at  the  Pennsylvania  Museum. 

These  types  of  decoration  are  slip, 
scratched  or  incised  (called  sgraffitto)  and 
moulded.     The  last  is  the  least  common. 

Slip  is  clay  usually  yellowish  white  in 
color,  which  has  been  mixed  with  water,  until  it 
is  of  the  consistency  of  cream,  and  can  be  poured 
from  a  slip-cup  or  bottle.  Some  were  of  clay,  with 
indented  sides  and  one  or  more  openings  at  the 
end,  into  which  quills  were  inserted,  through 
which  the  slip  flowed.  Another  opening  on  top 
could  be  opened  or  closed,  by  the  finger,  thus  regu- 
lating the  stream.  Some  cups  had  as  many  as 
three  quills  and  these  were  employed  to  trace  the 
wavy  parallel  lines  found  on  many  plates. 

The  slip  and  sgraflitto  wares  made  by 
John  Leidy  were  among  the  best  produced  in  the 
country.     He  died  in  1838. 

David  Spinner  born  of  Swiss  parents  in 
1758  was  considered  quite  an  artist  in  his  day  and 
did  all  of  his  own  decorating.  He  continued  in 
the  business  until  the  close  of  his  life  in   18 11. 


I08    EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

His  family  were  prominent  in  Buck's  County,  and 
he,  himself,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  many  years. 
Many  of  Spinner's  signed  pieces  exist."  (Miss 
Paull.) 

Johannes  Neesz  (Nase)  was  a  Pennsyl- 
vania potter  born  1775,  died  1867.  Jacob  Schell 
worked  as  early  as  1830,  also  a  Pennsylvania 
potter,  and  also,  David  Haring  about  1840  and 
Jacob  Taney  of  Buck's  County. 

Back  of  Old  City  Hall,  New  York,  in 
1735,  John  Remmy  had  a  Stone  Ware  factory. 
The  business  continued  until  1820,  when  a  great- 
grandson  of  the  founder,  moved  to  South  Amboy, 
N.  J.,  and  opened  a  pottery  there.  A  little  earlier 
another  grandson  had  started  a  factory  in  Phila- 
delphia, v/hich  is  flourishing  at  the  present  time. 

Israel  Seymour  made  stone  ware  in  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  from  about  1809  to  1865,  and  at  Albany, 
Paul  Cushman,  a  contemporary  of  Seymour,  made 
salt-glazed  pottery.  These  are  some  of  the  small 
potteries,  that  were  turning  out  utilitarian  wares 
in  the  Eighteenth  and  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century. 

After  the  middle  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, potteries  began  to  flourish  in  many  parts  of 
the  United  States,  particularly,  in  New  Jersey, 
and  New  York,  while  in  Aiken,  South  Carolina, 
the  Southern  Porcelain  Company  did  a  successful 
business  until  destroyed  by  fire  in  1863  or  1864. 
Trenton,  New  Jersey  and  East  Liverpool,  Ohio 
were,  and  still  are,  great  centers  of  Ceramic  indus- 


No.  g. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY     IO9 

try.  In  East  Liverpool,  it  is  said  that  about  half 
of  the  inhabitants  are  interested  in  the  forty  (odd) 
factories,  where  pottery  and  its  accessories  are  pro- 
duced on  a  large  and  profitable  commercial  basis. 


Notes  on  the  Pitkin  and  Woodbridge  Pot- 
tery AT  Manchester  Green,  Conn. 

The  first  William  Pitkin,  b.  1635,  ^^^ 
1 66 1,  died  1694,  md.  Hannah  Goodwin,  b.  1637, 
died  1724. 

Second  child,  William,  b.  1664,  md.  1686, 
died  1723.  Elizabeth  Stanley,  b.  1669,  died  175  i. 

Fifth  child.  Col.  Joseph,  b.  1696,  md. 
1729,  died  1762;  md.  Mary  Lord,  b.  1702,  died 
1740. 

Eighth  child,  Capt.  Richard,  b.  1739,  md. 
1758,  died  1799;  md.  Dorothy  Hills,  b.  173 1,  d. 
1826. 

First  child,  Richard,  b.  1759,  md.  1782,  d. 
1822;  md.  Abigail  Loomis,  b.  1758,  d.  1838. 

Second  child,  Elizabeth,  b.  1785,  md. 
1800,  d.  1839;  md.  Dudley  Woodbridge,  b.  1783, 
d.  1844.  Dudley  Woodbridge  was  a  brother  of 
Wells  Woodbridge,  who  was  the  first  postmaster 
at  Manchester  Green.  They  were  sons  of  Deodat 
Woodbridge.  Deodat  Woodbridge  and  his  son 
Dudley,  kept  the  Woodbridge  Tavern. 


no  EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

Esther  Wells  Woodbridge,  b.  1820,  tenth 
child  of  Elizabeth  Pitkin  and  Dudley  Woodbridge 
m.  Ralph  Cone,  b.  Oct.  20,  18 18. 

In  conversation  with  Mr.  Ralph  Cone,  in 
July,  1909,  he  gave  me  the  following  information 
relative  to  the  Pitkin  and  Woodbridge  Pottery, 
of  Manchester  Green,  Conn. : 

*'  On  the  south  side  of  the  street,  extending 
east  from  Manchester  Center  to  Manchester 
Green,  tracts  of  land  were  owned  by  Richard  Pit- 
kin. Near  his  residence,  a  mile  east  of  the  Center, 
was  the  chief  place  of  business  at  the  time  of  the 
Revolution.  The  settlement  contained  a  store,  a 
tavern,  a  black-smith's  shop,  a  pottery,  and  a  glass 
factory.  (See  Memorial  History  of  Hartford 
County,  Vol.  2,  page  246,  by  Rev.  S.  W.  Rob- 
bins).  Near  the  Pitkin  Glass  Works  and  a  little 
north-west  of  the  same  was  a  pottery  (probably 
for  Stone  Ware,  only),  where  were  made  jugs, 
jars,  churns,  bottles  (barrel-shaped).  A  dozen 
men  were  employed  here,  and  they  fired  one  kiln. 

*'  The  firm  was  '  Pitkin  and  Woodbridge,' 
Richard  Pitkin  and  Dudley  Woodbridge,  son-in- 
law  of  Richard  Pitkin.  The  clay  came  from  Mr. 
Pitkin's  lot,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  east  of  the 
house  of  Aaron  Cook,  Jr., and  it  was  known  as 
the  '  clay-hole  piece.'  " 

On  September  25th,  1909,  on  Saturday 
afternoon,  I  visited  Mr.  Ralph  Cone  again,  and 
bought  from  him  a  salt-glazed  stone  ware  jar, 
with  "  ear  handles."     It  is  ten  inches  high,  five 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY     1 1 1 

inches  the  diameter  of  the  base,  six  and  a  half 
inches  diameter  across  the  top  (intended,  but  not 
exactly  round) .  Top  edge,  three  eighths  of  an 
inch  in  thickness.  This  jar  was  given  to  Mr. 
Ralph  Cone's  wife,  Esther  Wells  Woodbridge,  by 
her  mother,  Elizabeth  Pitkin  Woodbridge  (Mrs. 
Dudley  Woodbridge)  and  was  made  at  the  "  Pit- 
kin and  Woodbridge "  Pottery,  Manchester 
Green,  Conn. 


CUatabgu? 


Earig  Am^riran  Jnlk  fntt^rg 


at 

2II|?  lEarlg  Am? rtratt  Jolk  Jpott^rg 
SIi|p  Albert  IfaaltttgH  Jpilktn  (Knllerttnit 

in  tl|? 
i9l0r$an  Memorial,  ^Slrt(oth,  (Eontu 

No.  I.  Mustard  pot.  Rare  russet  color.  Port- 
land, Maine. 

No.  2.  Snuff  jar.  Choice  color  and  mottling. 
Portland,  Maine. 

No.  3.  Jug.     Golden  green.     Portland,  Maine. 

No.  4.  Pitcher,  circa  18 15.     Portland,  Maine. 

No.  5.  Pitcher.  Seal  brown  and  emerald  green. 
Color  and  glaze  unusual.  Portland, 
Maine. 

No.  6.  Jug.  Exceptional  Japanese  effect  in  color 
and  glaze.     Portland,  Maine, 

No.  7.  Jug.  "  Smoke  splotches."  Portland, 
Maine. 


Il6    EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

No.   8.  Jardiniere-shaped  crock.   Line  decoration. 

Maine. 
No.  9.  Jug.    Mottled  glaze.    Maine. 
No.    10.  Jug.    Maine. 

No.    II.  Tea-pot.      Black  glaze.      Medallion   of 
Bolivar.    Signed  "  John  Mann  Rah- 
way  "  circa  1830,  N.  J. 
No.    12.   Pitcher,     Black  glaze.     Metallic  lustre. 
Signed  "  Geo.   Hamlyn,  East  Lake 
Pottery.     Bridgeton,   N.  J.".      2nd 
Quarter  19th  Century. 
No.    13.  "Toby"    pitcher.      Signed    "American 
Pottery   Co.,   Jersey   City,    N.   J." 
circa  1840. 
No.    14.   Shaving  mug.    N.  J. 
No.    15.  Toilet  pitcher.     Flint  enamel.    Tortoise- 
shell  decoration.     Signed  "  Lyman, 
Fenton    &   Co.      Fenton's    Enamel, 
Patented  1849,  Bennington,  Vt." 
Toilet  bowl.     (Same  as  No.  15.) 
Soap  dish.     (Same  as  No.  15.) 
"  Toby  "  bottle.     (Same  as  No.  15.) 
"  Toby  "  bottle.     (Same  as  No.  15.) 
Water  pitcher.      (Same  as  No.  15.) 
Toilet  bowl.     (Same  as  No.  15.) 
Water      pitcher.       "  Scrodled "      ware. 
Signed  "  United  States  Pottery  Co. 
Bennington,  Vt."     Circa  1850. 
No.   23.  Hound  handle  pitcher.     Hunting  scene 
in  relief.     Signed  "  Nichols  &  Al- 
ford.     Manufacturers,     Burlington, 
Vt.,  1854." 


No. 

16. 

No. 

17- 

No. 

18. 

No. 

19. 

No. 

20. 

No. 

21. 

No. 

22. 

EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY     I  I7 

No.  24. 

No.  25. 

No.   26.  Barrel-shaped  spirit  flask.     Mass. 

No.  27.  Cream  pitcher.      Mass. 

No.   28.  Pitcher.     Mass. 

No.   29.  Mug.     Circa  1820.     Mass. 

No.  30.  Quart  pitcher,  circa  1825.    Mass. 

No.  31.  Small  pitcher.     Mass. 

No.  32. 

No.  33.  Fruit  dish.  Molded  sides,  green  and 
russet  glaze.  2nd  quarter  19th  Cen- 
tury.    Maine. 

No.  34.  Bowl.     Fine  glaze  circa  1825.     Conn. 

No.  35.  Small  pitcher.     Conn. 

No.  36.  Small  jug.    Conn. 

No.  37.  Cake  mold.     "  Spiral  flute."     Conn. 

No.  38.  Spice  jar.  Marked  in  yellow  slip.  "  D. 
H:"     Conn. 

No.  39.  Straight  sided  jar.  Marked  "  29  "  in 
slip.    Conn. 

No.  40.  Preserve  jar  with  cover.    Conn. 

No.  41.  Spice  jar.  Marked  "  H.  A"  in  slip. 
Conn. 

No.  42.  Small  jar.     Conn. 

No.  43.  Jar.     Light-brown  glaze.     Conn. 

No.  44.  Jar.     Dark-brown  glaze.     Conn. 

No.  45.  Covered  jar.     Conn. 

No.  46.  Preserve  jar.  Unusual  shape.  Incised 
lines.     Early  19th  Century.     Conn. 

No.  47.  Jar.     New  London  Co.,  Conn. 


Il8    EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

No.  48.  Covered  jar.  "  Smoked  splotched." 
Norwich,  Conn. 

No.  49.  Jar,  ear  handles.    Norwich,  Conn. 

No.  50.  Pitcher.  Black  glaze.  Circa  1800. 
Conn. 

No.  51.  Small  mug.  "  Strap  handle  "  circa  18 10. 
Conn. 

No.  52.  Cup.  Slip  decoration.  Early  1800. 
Conn. 

No.  53.  Pitcher.     Conn. 

No.  54.  Pitcher.  "  Strap  handle."  Rare  shape, 
color  and  glaze,    circa  18 10.    Conn. 

No.  S5-  Mug.  Green  slip  decoration.  Eastern 
Conn. 

No.   56.  Small  cream  pitcher.     Conn. 

No.  57.  Tall  drinking  mug.  Windham  Co., 
Conn. 

No.  58.  Preserve  jar.  Exceptional  color  and 
glaze.  Tortoise-shell  effect.  East- 
ern Conn. 

No.   59.  Small  cup.     Conn. 

No.  60.  Drinking  cup.     Marbled  glaze.     Conn. 

No.   61.  Bottle.     Conn. 

No.  62.  Bottle.     Flat  Sides.     Conn. 

No.  63.  Bottle.     Conn. 

No.  64.  Pitcher.  Black  on  orange.  Fine  shape, 
color  and  glaze.  Early  19th  Cen- 
tury.    Conn. 

No.  6^.  Canister.     New  London  Co.,  Conn. 

No.  66.  Spirit  flask.     Conn. 

No.  67.  Figurine,  lion.  Signed  "  John  Sanders, 
1817."     Conn. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY     II9 

Jar.    Orange  and  black  glaze.     Conn. 
Jar.    Glazed  inside  only,     ist  quarter  of 

the  19th  century.     Hartford,  Conn. 
Small  bottle.    Glazed  inside  only.    Conn. 
Small  jar  with  handle.     Conn. 
Small  jar  with  handle.     Conn. 
Bean  pot  with  cover.     Conn. 
Melon-shaped    jar.      Very    dark    glaze. 

Circa  1825.     Eastern  Conn. 
Covered  preserve  jar.     Conn. 
Crock.     Glazed  inside.     Conn. 
Small  jug.     Conn. 
Straight-sided  crock.     Seymour  Pottery. 

Hartford,  Conn. 
Small  crock.     Glazed  inside.     Conn. 
Large     melon-shaped     pitcher.       Light 

brown   glaze,   yellow  slip  splotches 

shot  with  green.     Seymour  Pottery. 

Hartford,  Conn,  circa  1800. 
No.   81.  Money   bank.      White   slip    decoration. 

Conn. 
Decorated  vase.     Circa  1850.     Conn. 
Cream  pitcher.     Conn.     Circa  1850. 
Cider    mug.      Unglazed.      Early    19th 

Century.    Conn. 
Plate.     Slip.     Marked  "  Sarah's  Dish." 

Conn. 
Meat  dish.      Slip   decorated.      Marked 

XV  (Size.)     Conn. 
Meat  dish.     Conn. 
Milk  pan.     Seymour  Pottery,  Hartford, 

Conn.     Early  1800. 


No. 

68. 

No. 

69. 

No. 

70. 

No. 

71- 

No. 

72. 

No. 

73- 

No. 

74. 

No. 

75- 

No. 

76. 

No. 

77- 

No. 

78. 

No. 

79- 

No. 

80. 

No. 
No. 

No. 

82. 

83. 
84. 

No. 

85. 

No. 

86. 

No. 

No. 

87. 
88. 

I20    EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

No.   89.  Milk  pan.      Conn.    Early  period. 

No.  90.  Milk  pan.  Seymour  Pottery.  Hartford, 
Conn.  Early  1800.  (Same  as 
No.  88.) 

No.  91.   Deep  dish.     15  inches.     Conn. 

No.  92.  Same  as  No.  91. 

No.  93.  Plate.     Conn. 

No.  94.    (None.) 

No.  95.  Presentation  dish.  "  James  Gordon  Ben- 
nett "  in  yellow  slip.     Conn. 

No.  96.   Plate.     Conn. 

No.  97.  Plate.  "  O.  K.  "  1843  '^^  green  slip. 
Conn. 

No.  98.  Dish.     "  Cup."     Conn. 

No.  99.  Small  plate.    Deep  orange  glaze.    Conn. 

No.   100.  Small  plate.     Russet  glaze.     Conn. 

No.  loi.  Oval  fruit  dish.  Variegated  slip  deco- 
ration.   Conn. 

No.    102.  Bread  tray.    Serpent  decoration.    Conn. 

No.   103.  Pie  plate.     "  A.  B.  C."     Conn. 

No.  104.  Pie  plate.  Unused,  circa  1840.  (Late 
period.)     Conn. 

No.  105.  Pie  plate.  Seymour  Pottery.  (Late 
period.     Circa  1835.     Conn. 

No.  106.  Pie  plate.  "  Mince  Pie."  Norwalk 
Pottery.     Conn. 

No.   107.  Deep  dish.     Circa  1840.     Conn. 

No.    108.   Bowl.     Conn. 

No.   109.  Small  milk  pan.     Conn. 

No.  no.  Plate,  ist  quarter  of  the  19th  Cen- 
tury.    Conn. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY     I  2  I 

No.    III.  Same  as  No.  iio. 

No.   112.  Same  as  No.  no. 

No.   113.  Plate.     Conn. 

No.    114.  Plate.     Conn. 

No.    115.   Plate.     Conn. 

No.    116.  Small  plate.     "Cook."     Conn. 

No.    117.   Small  plate.     Initialed.     Conn. 

No.    118.  Potters    mold.      "J.    B.    G."      1833. 

Conn. 
No.    119.   Potters  mold.      "  M.  Smith  &  Sons." 

Norwalk,  Conn. 
No.    120.  Furniture     knobs.       Norwalk,     Conn. 

circa   1850.     Conn. 
No.    121.   Coat    buttons.      Tortoise-shell     glaze. 

So.  Norwalk,  Conn.    1825. 
No.    122.  Stone    ware    pitcher.       "Goodwin    & 

Webster  "  Hartford,   Conn.      Circa 

1820. 
No.    123.  Stone   ware   hot  water  bottle.      Web- 
ster &  Seymour."     Hartford,  Conn. 

Circa  1830. 
No.    124.   Stone  ware  pitcher.      Blue  decoration. 

Conn. 
No.    125.  Small  stone  ware  jug.     "  D.  Goodale." 

Hartford,  Conn.    Circa  18 10. 
No.    126.   Gray  stone  ware  scent  bottle.     Conn. 
No.    127.  Stone  ware  gallipot.     Conn. 
No.    128.  Flower  pot  and  saucer,  pie  crust  edge. 

Conn. 
No.    129.  Large  melon-shaped  jar.   New  London, 

Conn. 


122    EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 


No.  130.  Candle  stick.  Elaborate  modelling. 
Rockingham  ware.     Ohio. 

No.    131.  Pair  of  ink-stands.     Ohio. 

No.    132.  Ink-stand.   Grotesque  modelling.   Ohio. 

No.    133.   Custard  cup.     Circa  1850. 

No.   134.  Same  as  No.  133. 

No.    135.  Pitcher.     Penn. 

No    136.  Tea-pot  tile.     Penn. 

No.  137.  Deep  dish.  Light  body,  combed  deco- 
ration.    Probably  So.  Penn. 

No.    138.  Same  as  No.  137. 

No.   139.  Same  as  No.  137. 

No.    140.   Plate.     Conn. 

No.    141.  Same  as  No.  140. 

No.  142.  Deep  dish.  Serpent  decoration,  green 
and  yellow  slip.     Penn. 

No.  143.  Elaborately  ornamented  dish.  Molded 
and  impressed  decoration.  Mottled 
glaze.  Penn.  2nd  quarter  of  the 
19th  Century. 

No.   144.  Toy  pitcher.     Penn. 

No.   145.  Toy  jug.    Penn. 

No.   146.  Large  mug.     Seal  brown.     Penn. 

No.    147.  Small  pitcher.     Penn. 

No.  148.  Sugar  bowl.  "  J.  S.  Henne."  Circa 
1850,     Penn. 

No.    149.  Small  deep  dish.    Penn. 

No.  150.  Jar.  Straight  sides.  Twisted  ear  han- 
dles. Elaborate  incised  decoration. 
Dark  green  on  buff  ground.  Eagle, 
fish  and  flower  motive.  Dated  181 1. 
Penn. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY     1 23 

No.    151.  Bottle-shaped  vase.     Rare  tortoise-shell 

effect.      Purplish  splotches  on  light 

buff  ground.     Penn. 
No.     152.  Small  covered  pitcher.    Reddish  brown 

glaze,  colored  slip  decoration.  Penn. 
No.    153.  Small  jar,  ear  handles.    Mottled  brown 

glaze.     Slip  decoration,     ist  quarter 

of  the  19th  Century. 
No.    154.  Stand  for  Betty  Lamp.     Penn. 
No.    155.  Small  plate.     Buff  slip  on  dark  glaze. 

Penn. 
No.    156.  Deep  plate.      Tooled  Marly.     Colored 

slip  decoration.     Penn. 
No.    157.  Compressed  octagonal  dish.     Green  & 

white  slip  decoration.     Dated  1839. 

Penn. 
No.    158.  Penn.  Tulip  ware  dish.     Glaze  badly 

flaked. 
No.    159.  Large   deep   dish.      Brown    and  white 

slip  decoration.  Tulip  motive.  Penn. 
No.  160.  Money  bank.  Unusual  color  and  glaze. 
No.    161.  Water  pitcher.   First  Parian  ware  made 

in  the  U.  S.  A.     Marked  "  United 

States  Pottery  Co.,  Bennington,  Vt." 

circa  1846. 
No.    162.   Goblet    vase.      Flint    enamelled    ware, 

Bennington,  Vt. 
No.    163.  Toby  jug.     Flint  enamelled  ware,  Ben- 
nington, Vt. 
No.    164.  Black  glazed  jug.     Conn.     Circa  1820. 
No.    165.  Large    preserve    jar.      New    London, 

Conn. 


124    EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY 

No.  1 66.  Water  pitcher.  Unusual  glaze  and 
color.   Norwich,  Conn.    Circa  1810. 

No.    167.  Bread  tray.     Norwalk,  Conn. 

No.  168.  Foot  bath.  Choice  example  of  Ben- 
nington ware.  Marked  and  dated 
1849,  Vt. 

No.   169. 

No.  170.  Sgraffito  pie  plate.  Presentation  piece 
to  "  Elizabeth  Reiser  "  by  "  Samuel 
Troxel,  Potter,  1827."  Upper 
Hanover  township,  Montgomery 
County,  Penn.  Inscribed,  signed  and 
dated. 

No.   171.  Jar.    New  London  Co.,  Conn. 

Potters: 

D.  Goodale. 

Goodwin  and  Webster,  jug.     18 18-1820. 
Webster  and  Seymour,  hot  water  bottle. 
C.  Webster  and  Son,  1 826-1 830. 
Norton  and  Russell,  about  1826. 

To  order  or  Gifts: 

Nos.  95,  97,  98,  116,  117,  85,  38,  41,  39, 
103,  106. 

Dated: 

67,  97,  118,  119,  150,  157. 

Potters'  Marks: 

IS,  16,  17,  21,  23,  20,  22,  18,  19,  148,  67, 
II,  12,  13,  118,  119,  122,  123,  125, 
152,  161,  168. 


EARLY  AMERICAN  FOLK  POTTERY  I  25 


Conn.  Shapes. 


43.  34,  i55>  154,  74,  54,  23^  59,  80,  160,  6, 
8I'  151,  II,  loi,  108,  99,  156,  67, 
149,  152,  166,  168,  102. 

Colors.     Greens,  browns,  grays. 

^'  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  Maine.  164, 
166,  137,  138,  139,  99,  100,  155,  ^e, 
34,  54,  64,  58,  44,  23.  80,  160,  151,  50, 
57,  60,  153,  II,  150. 


S^00luttnnB  anin  Srtbutea 


Mr.  Albert  laBtutga  f  tlktn 


The  following  Tribute  to  Mr.  Albert 
Hastings  Pitkin  of  the  Morgan  Memorial,  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  was  paid  by  Miss  Florence  V.  Paull- 
Berger  at  a  lecture  given  by  her  at  the  Metropoli- 
tan Museum,  New  York,  January  13,  19 18.  The 
topic  of  her  lecture  was  "  Early  American  Pot- 
tery "  and  Mr.  Pitkin  had  been  asked  to  give  the 
lecture,  but  died  October  14th,  19 17,  and  Miss 
Paull  was  asked  to  supply  his  place. 

"  The  recent  death  of  Mr.  Albert  Hast- 
ings Pitkin,  Curator  of  the  Morgan  Memorial  of 
Hartford,  Conn.,  who  was  to  have  spoken  to  you 
today  was  a  great  loss  not  only  to  the  Museum 
world,  but  also  to  all  who  are  interested  in  the 
study  of  Early  American  Art. 

Mr.  Pitkin  and  his  close  friend,  Dr. 
Edwin  A.  Barber  for  many  years  Director  of  the 
Penn  Museum  at  Philadelphia,  whose  death  oc- 
curred a  short  time  before  Mr.  Pitkin's,  had  to- 


130  TRIBUTES 


gether  specialized  in  the  study  of  American  Pot- 
tery and  were  widely  recognized  as  experts  on 
the  subject. 

As  early  as  1893  Dr.  Barber  had  pub- 
lished his  volume  on  '  The  Pottery  and  Porcelain 
of  the  United  States,'  which  covers  the  history  of 
the  Ceramic  country  from  the  period  of  the  Ameri- 
can Indian  to  the  later  years  of  the  19th  Century. 
No  work  on  the  subject  has  since  been  written 
which  can  supersede  it. 

Dr.  Barber's  chief  interest  was  in  the 
decorated  wares  of  the  German  settlers  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  he  published  a  monograph  on  Tulip 
Ware  (as  it  is  called),  of  the  Pennsylvania  Ger- 
man potter,  in  which  the  subject  is  very  thoroughly 
treated.  For  many  years  he  has  been  gathering 
fine  examples  of  this  Pottery  for  the  Penn 
Museum  and  the  Collection  there  is  unrivalled  as 
far  as  I  know. 

Mr.  Pitkin's  studies  were  devoted  to  the 
wares  made  in  New  England  such  as  the  Stone 
Ware  and  Red  glazed  wares  of  Connecticut,  and 
the  productions  of  the  United  States  Pottery  at 
Bennington,  Vermont.  Like  Dr.  Barber,  he  col- 
lected steadily  along  the  lines  where  his  interest 
lay,  and  his  Collection  of  choice  examples  of  Red 
Ware  and  Bennington  may  be  seen  in  the  Morgan 
Memorial  at  Hartford  where  his  recent  installa- 
tion of  the  beautiful  objects  presented  to  the 
Museum  by  Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan  cannot  fail  to 
Impress  all  visitors. 


TRIBUTES  131 


In  speaking  to  you  on  Early  American 
Pottery,  I  feel  that  it  is  quite  impossible  for  me 
to  take  the  place  of  one  who  was  such  an 
authority  on  the  subject,  and  who  had  studied  the 
New  England  Folk  Pottery  with  such  enthusiasm. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  Mr.  Pit- 
kin's love  for  this  '  Folk  Pottery '  was  first 
aroused  by  having  given  him  a  little  jar  which  was 
brought  from  Salem,  Mass.,  by  his  wife. 

Mr.  Pitkin  did  not  limit  his  Collection 
of  Red  Ware  to  that  made  in  Connecticut,  but  in- 
cluded some  of  the  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey 
products.  I  have  already  mentioned  Mr.  Pit- 
kin's unrivalled  Collection  of  Bennington,  Vt.  Pot- 
tery in  the  Morgan  Memorial,  Wadsworth  Athe- 
neum,  Hartford,  Conn." 

Mrs.  Florence  V.  Paull-Berger  succeeded 
Albert  Hastings  Pitkin,  as  Curator  of  Wadsworth 
Atheneum,  June  first,  19 18,  after  many  years'  con- 
nection with  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston, 
Mass. 


Dr.  F.  W.  Gunsaulus,  President  of  The 
Armour  Institute  of  Technology  of  Chicago  writes 
in  a  recent  letter: 

"  No  one  has  passed  out  of  my  life  in  re- 
cent days  except  Dr.  Barber,  whose  presence  was 
more  beneficent  and  loved  than  that  of  Albert  H. 

Pitkin His   great   Memorial   is   in 

the  heart  of  his  friends  and  in  the  work  he  did  in 
the  City  of  Hartford." 


132  TRIBUTES 


In  connection  with  the  work  of  installing 
the  Morgan  Collection  at  the  Morgan  Memo- 
rial, Hartford,  Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan  writes :  — 

"  I  was  very  much  interested  in  the  way 
in  which  Mr.  Pitkin  worked  out  the  installation  in 
the  Museum  and  very  grateful  to  him  for  the  skill 
and  ability  that  he  has  shown  in  that  arrange- 
ment." 


Henry  R.  Howland  of  Buffalo,  New  York, 
President  of  the  American  Association  of 
Museums,  writes: 

"  Through  his  connection  with  the  Ameri- 
can Association  of  Museums  I  had  learned  to 
know  Mr.  Pitkin  quite  well,  and  it  is  a  sense  of 
personal  loss  that  comes  to  me,  now  that  he  has 
been  taken  from  us.  His  quiet  ways,  his  efficiency 
and  his  interesting  personality,  all  made  for  a 
friendship,  the  memory  of  which  will  always  be  a 
happiness  to  me." 


Mr.  George  Hart  of  28  Wardour  Street 
(Piccadilly  Circus)  London  W.  of  date,  June  8th, 
19 1 8,  writes: 

"  I  feel  that  I  have  lost  a  very  dear  and 
valued  friend  in  the  late  Mr.  Pitkin.  I  am  quite 
sure  his  loss  will  be  keenly  felt  by  all  who  had  the 
privilege  of  knowing  him." 


Ufaolutiott  of  tl|e  Malpok  ^cmtg 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Walpole  Society,  held 
at  the  house  of  the  "  Ckib  of  Odd  Volumes  "  in 
Boston,  on  November  ninth.  Nineteen  Hundred 
Seventeen,  after  a  feeling  tribute  paid  by  one  of 
the  members,  to  the  memory  of  the  late  Albert 
Hastings  Pitkin,  It  was  unanimously 
VOTED  that  through  a  Committee  consisting  of 
Messrs.  Henry  W.  Erving  and  Luke  Vincent 
Lockwood,  the  Society  express  to  Mrs.  Pit- 
kin its  deep  sorrow  at  the  loss  of  its  valued 
associate,  and  Its  sincere  sympathy  with  Mrs. 
Pitkin  In  her  bereavement. 
The  Society  highly  esteemed  the  many  excellencies 
of  character  of  their  late  friend,  and  valued  his 
companionable  qualities  and  his  great  Interest  In 
all  the  aims  of  the  Society. 

It  also  greatly  appreciated  his  knowledge 
of  Ceramic  Art,  and  his  faithful  persevering  study 
and  research  into  matters  connected  therewith, 
together  with  his  ever  cheerful  readiness  to  assist 
others  in  its  study,  and  to  impart  his  Information 
to  all  earnest  students. 

The  Walpole  Society  and  Its  members,  In- 
dividually have  sustained  a  heavy  loss  In  the  pass- 
ing of  Mr.  Pitkin. 

Signed  Henry  W.  Erving, 

Luke  Vincent  Lockwood, 

for  the  Walpole  Society. 
This  Resolution  Is  beautifully  engraved. 

133 


^nttfoth  ffi^ramtr  Art  OIl«b 

Whereas,  it  has  pleased  Providence  to  remove 
from  our  midst,  our  respected  friend  and 
Honorary  member,  Albert  Hastings  Pit- 
kin, thereby  leaving  a  vacancy  in  our  Club 
that  can  never  be  filled,  therefor  be  it 
Resolved,  that  we  express  our  sense  of  the 
high  character  of  his  attainments,  his  rare  artistic 
perceptions,  his  unfailing  courtesy  and  his  gener- 
ous help  and  encouragement,  to  us,  in  our  work 
for  the  advancement  of  Ceramic  Art,  and  be  it 
Resolved  that  we  express  to  Mrs,  Pitkin  our  pro- 
found sympathy  in  her  bereavement  and  the  assur- 
ance   that   his   memory   will    always   be    revered 
among  us,  and  be  it  Resolved  that  a  copy  of  these 
resolutions  be  sent  to  Mrs.  Pitkin,  and  that  they  be 
spread  upon  the  Minutes  of  the  Club. 

Signed  Annie  W.  Gibson,  President, 
Mary  A.  Smith,  Secretary. 
November  ninth.  Nineteen  Hundred  Seventeen. 

These    Resolutions    are    very    beautifully 
engraved. 


134 


S^BoUituittB  of  tiit  Mxmicxpvii  Art  g'omtg 

0f 

^nttfnxh,  (HomHtxtvct 

Resolved,  that  the  Directors  of  the  Munic- 
ipal Art  Society  express  publicly  their  sense  of  the 
deep  loss,  both  to  this  Society  and  to  Hartford, 
which  we  have  suffered  in  the  death  of  Albert 
Hastings  Pitkin. 

As  Curator  of  the  Collections  in  the  Mor- 
gan Memorial,  Mr.  Pitkin's  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  Art  treasures  of  our  city  was  always  gladly 
placed  at  the  services  of  any  of  our  citizens,  and 
his  enthusiastic  interest  in  all  that  had  to  do  with 
the  artistic  life  of  Hartford,  was  of  the  greatest 
value  to  this  community. 

His  death  so  soon  after  the  formal  open- 
ing to  the  public  of  our  beautiful  J.  Pierpont 
Morgan  Art  Collection,  deprives  us  of  an  unique 
and  valuable  contribution  of  service  to  our  civic 
life,  at  a  time  when  it  is  most  needed. 

Signed  William  H.  Honiss,  President, 
Leila  Anderson,  Secretary. 


135 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  Wads- 
worth  Atheneum,  held  on  the  17th  day  of  Novem- 
ber, 19 17,  the  President,  having  announced  the 
great  loss  which  the  Institution  had  suffered  in  the 
death  of  Mr.  Albert  H.  Pitkin,  General  Curator, 
the  following  vote  was  passed :  — 

Since  the  last  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of 
Wadsworth  Atheneum,  the  General  Curator,  Mr. 
Albert  H.  Pitkin,  has  been  taken  from  us,  by 
death. 

Mr.  Pitkin  was  interested  in  the  Athe- 
neum, long  before  he  had  any  official  position 
here.  This  interest  was  manifested  by  gifts  and 
Loan  Exhibitions,  from  his  varied  and  valuable 
Collections. 

In  19 10,  he  was  appointed  Curator  of  the 
Department  of  Ceramics,  and  while  this  position 
was  purely  Honorary,  he  gave  to  it  very  largely 
of  his  time  and  thought.  He,  not  only  himself 
made  important  gifts  and  loans,  but  he  labored, 
zealously  and  successfully  to  secure  the  same  from 
others. 

136 


TRIBUTES  137 


In  19 1 6,  he  was  appointed  General  Cura- 
tor of  Wadsworth  Atheneum  and  from  that  time, 
he  devoted  himself,  untiringly,  to  the  work  of  his 
office,  and  he  discharged  its  responsibilities  and 
duties,  with  a  faithfulness,  which  is  beyond  all 
praise. 

His  remarkable  attainments  as  a  student 
and  collector  of  Early  American  Pottery  were 
recognized  by  all  of  the  leading  Museum  author- 
ities throughout  the  country,  and  he  had  been  in- 
vited to  lecture  on  this  topic  during  the  coming 
winter,  before  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art, 
New  York  City. 

On  the  personal  side,  his  death  has 
brought  grief  to  all  of  his  associates,  and  we 
sorrow  most  of  all,  that  we  shall  see  his  face  here, 
no  more. 

Resolved,  that  this  Minute  be  entered  on 
the  Records  of  the  Atheneum  and  that  a  copy  be 
transmitted  to  his  family  with  the  assurance  of  the 
sincerest  sympathy  of  the  Trustees  of  Wadsworth 
Atheneum  in  their  great  bereavement. 

Dr.  Francis  Goodwin,  President, 
James  B.  Cone,  Secretary. 


Albert  l^aattngB  Pttkttt. 

From  the  earliest  settlement  of  New  England, 
the  name  of  Pitkin  has  been  an  eminent  one  in  the 
annals  of  its  history. 

A  worthy  and  prominent  member  of  this  family, 
Albert  Hastings  Pitkin  was  born  August  20,  1852 
in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  son  of  Albert  Palmer 
and  Jane  Ann  (Hastings)  Pitkin,  died  there  Octo- 
ber 14,  1917. 

He  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  William  Pitkin 
who  was  born  in  England  in  1635  and  died 
December  16,  1694.  He  came  from  England  to 
America  in  1659  and  was  admitted  a  freeman 
October  9,  1662.  He  was  appointed  in  1662  as 
Prosecutor  for  the  Colony;  in  1664  appointed 
Attorney  General  by  the  King;  in  1675  and  until 
1690  was  the  representative  of  Hartford  in  the 
Colonial  Assembly;  was  Treasurer  of  the  Colony 
in  1676,  and  Commissioner  to  the  United 
Colonies;  was  appointed  in  1676  to  negotiate 
peace  with  the  Narragansett  and  other  Indian 
tribes;  elected  a  member  of  the  Colonial  Council 


140  TRIBUTES 

in  1690.  He  was  one  of  the  principal  citizens  of 
the  town  and  was  appointed  with  John  Crow  to 
lay  out  the  first  main  street  and  other  streets  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Connecticut  river.  He  married  in 
1 66 1,  Hannah  Goodwin,  the  only  daughter  of 
Hon.  Ozias  Goodwin  and  Mary  (Woodward) 
Goodwin. 

Roger  Pitkin,  eldest  child  of  William  and  Han- 
nah Pitkin  was  born  in  1662  and  died  November 
24,  1748.  He  was  appointed  Captain  of  the  first 
Militia  Company  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  and 
was  actively  engaged  with  his  company  in  the  de- 
fense of  the  town  against  the  Indians  in  1704  and 
also,  at  other  times.  He  owned  the  Covenant  with 
the  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Hartford  November 
22,  1685. 

In  1683,  he  married  Hannah  Stanley,  daughter 
of  Captain  Caleb  and  Hannah  (Cowles)  Stanley. 
The  father  of  Captain  Caleb  Stanley  was  a  passen- 
ger with  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker  when  he  came 
to  America.  Roger  and  Hannah  Pitkin  were  the 
parents  of  Jonathan  Pitkin  who  was  born  March 
I,  1697  and  married  in  1728  Rebecca,  a  daughter 
of  Philip  Smith  of  Hadley,  Massachusetts. 

Jonathan  Pitkin,  Jr.,  their  son,  was  born  in 
1730,  and  died  December,  18 12.  He  married  in 
1760,  Lucy,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Joseph  and  Eliza- 
beth (Hollister)  Steele  born  January  24,  1740, 
and  died  February  20,  1804. 

Ezekiel  Pitkin,  their  second  child,  was  born 
January  26,  1763  and  died  May  12,  1843.    Previ- 


TRIBUTES 


141 


ous  to  1807,  he  married  Euphemla  Chapman  and 
they  were  the  parents  of  Denison  Palmer  Pitkin 
born  February  15,  1807,  died  July  18,  1781.  He 
married  in  1828  Phoebe  Dunham,  daughter  of 
Benjamin  Turner  of  Mansfield,  Connecticut.  She 
was  bom  July  10,  1807,  and  died  September  7, 
1866. 

Albert  Palmer  Pitkin  their  son  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1829.  He  married  November  4,  185 1, 
Jane  Ann  Hastings,  a  daughter  of  Captain  Henry 
and  Sarah  Ann  (Dewey)  Hastings,  born  Decem- 
ber 8,  1828,  died  February  i,  1876,  in  Hartford, 
Connecticut.  Albert  Palmer  Pitkin  and  Jane  Ann 
(Hastings)  Pitkin  had  three  sons,  Albert  Hast- 
ings Pitkin  born  August  20,  1852;  md.  Sarah 
Howard  Loomis,  April  23rd,  1874.  He  died  Oc- 
tober 14th,  19 1 7. 

H  oward  Seymour  Pitkin  born  October  31,  1 860 ; 
md.  Nellie  Bulkeley  Hutchinson  October  31, 
1893.  She  died  December  27,  1916.  He  died 
October  23,   1917. 

William  Taft  Pitkin  born  April  20,  1867;  ^^• 
Nellie  White  Kennedy  March  15,   1893. 

ALBERT  HASTINGS  PITKIN,  son  of  and 
eldest  child  of  Albert  P.  and  Jane  Ann  (Hastings) 
Pitkin  was  born  in  Hartford  August  20th,  1852, 
and  died  there  October  14th,  19 17.  Upon  leav- 
ing school,  he  entered  the  Connecticut  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Company  of  Hartford  and  remained 
with  that  Company  until  he  became  connected 
with  the  Morgan   Memorial.     In    19 10   he  was 


142  TRIBUTES 


appointed  Curator  of  Ceramics  in  the  Morgan 
Memorial,  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  in  the  fall  of 
19 1 6  General  Curator  of  the  Wadsworth  Athe- 
neum  and  the  Morgan  Memorial.  For  years  Mr. 
Pitkin  was  a  student  of,  and  collector  of  Ceramics, 
specializing  in  Early  American  Pottery.  In  con- 
nection with  his  work  he  had  made  extensive 
travels  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  On  one  of 
these  trips,  he  visited  twenty-six  of  the  principal 
museums  of  Europe  in  order  to  learn  their  meth- 
ods of  classification  and  installation. 

In  company  with  a  friend,  the  late  Dr.  Edwin 
A.  Barber,  who  was  director  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Museum  of  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Pitkin  made  a  trip 
to  Mexico  and  at  another  time  was  ten  months 
on  the  Pacific  coast.  They  together  visited  the 
great  Exposition  of  Mohammedan  Art  in  Munich 
in  1910. 

He  installed  the  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  collections 
in  the  Morgan  Memorial;  the  Samuel  P.  Avery 
Silver  and  Cloisonne  collections,  all  the  pottery  in 
the  Pottery  Room  and  the  Furniture  and  Silver 
Collections  of  Mr.  George  Dudley  Seymour, 
there. 

There  is  perhaps,  no  finer  collection  of  antique 
furniture  and  pottery  than  that  owned  and  col- 
lected by  Mr.  Pitkin,  during  his  life  to  be  found 
in  the  entire  state.  A  portion  of  his  collection  Is 
on  view  in  the  Morgan  Memorial  of  Hartford. 
In  addition    to    his    pottery   collections,    he    also 


TRIBUTES  143 


specialized  in  rare  books  and  his  library  contained 
many  priceless  volumes. 

He  assisted  in  installing  many  collections  of 
pottery  in  New  York,  Albany,  Philadelphia, 
Waterbur}^  Litchfield  and  New  Haven. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  First  Church  of  Christ 
In  Hartford,  which  he  joined  in  1871  when  Rev. 
George  Leon  Walker  was  pastor  there  and  who 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Pitkin. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Mayflower 
descendants  in  Connecticut  and  several  times  was 
a  delegate  to  the  Triennial  Congress  at  Plymouth, 
Mass.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Jeremiah  Wads- 
worth  Chapter,  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution, 
of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  of  the  Wal- 
pole  Society,  of  the  National  Association  of  Mu- 
seums to  which  he  was  often  sent  as  a  dele- 
gate from  the  Wadsworth  Atheneum,  to  their 
meetings  in  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
Washington,  Milwaukee  and  Chicago.  On  April 
23,  1874,  Mr.  Pitkin  married  Sarah  Howard 
Loomis,  daughter  of  Chester  and  Mary  Weston 
(Thayer)  Loomis  of  Boston,  Mass.  The  latter 
was  a  lineal  descendant  of  John  and  Priscilla 
(Mullins)  Alden  of  the  Pilgrim  Colony,  and  the 
former  of  Joseph  Loomis  one  of  the  pioneer 
settlers  of  old  Windsor,  Connecticut  in  1639. 
Fifty  acres  of  the  old  Loomis  homestead  has 
been  devised  as  the  building  site  of  the  Loomis  In- 
stitute. It  is  interesting  to  know  that  this  piece  of 
land  has  been  in  the  possession  of  the  Loomis 
10 


144  TRIBUTES 


Family,  ever  since  it  was  first  bought  by  Joseph 
Loomis  the  first  settler,  February  2,  1640  in  the 
early  settlement  of  the  town  of  Old  Windsor. 


Mhm 


ilnft^K 


Alsop,  Joseph,  31. 
Anderson,  William,  31. 
Avery,  Samuel  P.,  142. 

Baker,  James,  31. 

Barber,  Dr.  Edwin  A., 
II,  37,  40,  69,  78, 
105,  129,  130,  142. 

Barber,  Enoch,  30,  32. 

Beach,  F.  Bagnall,  27. 

Beerbower,  L.  B.,  31. 

Belding,  David,  93. 

Bennett  Brothers,   27. 

Bennington,  Vt.,  16,  70. 

Benton,  George,  90. 

Berger,  F.  V.  P.,  77,  96, 
129,  131. 

Boardman,  S.,  91. 

Boardman,  Stanley,  90. 

Boardman,  Thomas,  91 


Boardman,  T.  D.,  91. 
Boyden,  George,  93. 
Brooks,  Hervey,  16. 
Buel,  Lucretia,  16. 
Buel,  Jonathan,  16. 
Burglin,  John,  31. 
Burtleman,  William,  31. 

Caldwell,  James,  31. 
Caldwell,  John,  31. 
Caldwell,  John,  Jr.,  31. 
Carey,  Adam,  32. 
Cartwright,       William, 

Cartwright,  John,  31. 
Chase,  L  &  B.  G.,  97. 
Clarke,  Decius,  32,  34. 
Cone,  James  B,,  137. 
Cone,  Ralph,  no. 
Coxe,  Dr.  D.,  88. 


148 


INDEX 


Cross,  Peter,  90. 
Cullien,  Thomas,  32. 
Cushman,  Albert,  34. 
Cushman,  Paul,  108. 

Day,  Charles  H.,  93. 
Danforth,  Augustus, 32. 
Dewey,  22. 
Dorset,  Vt.,  19. 
Dow,    George    Francis, 

78,  96. 
Doulton,  30. 
Dyer,  Walter,  41. 

Eastlake  Pottery,  116. 
Edmunds,  Barnabas,  97. 
Emmons,  Mrs.  C.  H., 

35>78. 
Erving,  Henry  W.,  78, 

90,  133- 

Fenton,  23,  28,  40. 
Fenton,        Christopher, 

Webber,   18,   19,  25, 

26. 
Fenton,  Fanny,  34. 
Fenton,    Louise    Anna, 

.34. 
Fillmore,     Henry     D., 

34,  40. 
Fry,  Theophile,  29,  31, 

33. 

Gager,  28. 

Gates,    Henry    S.,    32, 
33.  78. 


Gilbert,  Miriam,  87. 
Godfrey,  34. 
Godfrey,  Frederic,  38. 
Godfrey,  Rufus,  32. 
Goodale,     Daniel,     88, 

90,  121. 
Goodwin,  16,  85,  86. 
Goodwin,        Ebenezer, 

86,  87. 

Goodwin,   Dr.   Francis, 

I37-. 
Goodwin,     George     T, 

87.  ^ 

Goodwin,  Hannah,  109. 
Goodwin,    Horace,    88, 

90. 
Goodwin,   Harvey,    87. 
Goodwin,    Harvey    B., 

87.    , 
Goodwin,    Horace    H., 

87.    , 
Goodwin,   Isaac,   86. 
Goodwin,       Nathaniel, 

86.    ^ 
Goodwin,  Ozias,  86. 
Goodwin,  Pitts,  87. 
Goodwin,  Seth,  86,  87, 

88. 
Goodwin,       Thomas 

O'Hara,  87,  88. 
Goodwin,    Wilbur    E., 

Goodwin,  William,  86. 
Greatbach,   Daniel,   20, 

29,  33.  40. 
Greenslit,  Frank,  38. 


INDEX 


149 


Guilford,     Mrs.     John 

L.,  94. 
Gunsaulus,  Dr.  F.  W., 

94. 

Hall,    Henry,    18,    20, 

25. 
Hamlyn,  George,   116. 
Hancock,   Frederic.  38. 
Haring,  David,   108. 
Hastings,  92. 
Hastings,  Andrew,  91. 
Hastings,  Benjamin,  91. 
Hastings,  Henr\%  91. 
Hastings,     Wellington, 

93- 
Harrison,  John,  20,  30, 

33- 
Hartford   Ceramic  Art 

Club,  134. 
Hart,  George,  132. 
Henne,  J.  S.,   122. 
Hews,  x^bram,  94,  95. 
Hickmott,    William    J.. 

78. 
Hills,  Dorothv,  109. 
Hinman,  W.  S.,  17. 
Hollins,  William,   30. 
Hollis,  Dr.,  28. 
Howland,     Henry     R., 

132. 
Hubener,  George,  105. 
Hutchins,  Thomas,  32. 

Jeffords,  J.  J.,  33. 
Johnson,  Jerome,  38. 


Kendall,    Miles,    96. 
Keough,    John,  32,  34. 
Kettle,  Jonathan,  96. 
Keyes.  Samuel,  23,   28. 
Kimball,  C.  C,  38. 

Lawton,  Henr\%  30. 

Lawton,  Joseph,  30. 

Leake,  Charles,  30,  32. 

Leake,  W.  G.,  30,  31, 
32,  78.  _ 

Leake,  William,  30. 

Leake,  William  L.,  32. 

Lear,  Enoch,  31. 

Leidy,  John,  107. 

Leigh,  John,  30,  31,  32. 

Loomis,  Abigail,   109. 

Lord,  Mary,   109. 

Lockwood,  Luke  Vin- 
cent, 133. 

Lyman,  28. 

Lyman,  A.  P.,  21,  25, 

'27. 
Lyman   &   Fenton,    28, 

■72. 

Maddock,  William,  31. 
Mann,  John,    1 16. 
Marquis,  Charles,   18. 
McQuire,  Daniel,  32. 
McQuire,  Patrick,  32. 
McDougal,  James,  32. 
McDougal,  Samuel.  32. 
McLea,   William,   31. 
Molds,  John,  31. 
Moon,  Dick,  31. 


150 


INDEX 


Moore,  Enoch,  31,  32, 

34- 
Moore,  Henry,  32. 
Moore,  William,  32. 
Morgan,  J.  P.,  132. 
Morgan,    J.    Pierpont, 

130,^  142. 
Municipal  Art  Society, 

Nase,  Johannes,  108. 
New  London,  117,  118, 

121,  123,  124. 
Nichols  &  Alvord,  116. 
Nichols,  E.  L.,  18. 
Norton,  Capt.,  17. 
Norton,  David,  16. 
Norton   &   Fenton,    23, 

70,  71. 
Norton,    Edward,     18, 

20,  21,  38,  42. 
Norton,  Edward  L.,  42. 
Norton,  Frank,  38. 
Norton,   John,    16,    17, 

19,  20,  21,  38,  42. 
Norton,  Julius,  20,  42. 
Norton,  L.,  27. 
Norton,  Luman,  16,  19, 

23»  34,  42. 
Norton,  Luman,  P.,  42, 
Norton,  Louisa,  19. 
Norton,  Mrs.  L.  S.,  22, 
Norwalk,      120,      121, 

124. 
Norwich,  118,  124. 
Oatman,  Andrew,  78. 


Osborne,  Joseph,  96. 
Osborne,  William,  96. 
Ostrander,  22. 
Orcutt,  Eleazer,  93. 
Orcutt,  W.  &  E.,  93. 
Owens,  William,  31. 

Park,  28. 

Park,  Calvin,  25,  34. 
Peeler,  Anson,  28. 
Pierce,    John,    16. 
Pitkin    Collection,    23, 

24,    29,   35,   70,   73, 

102,  103,  109. 
Pitkin     Glass     Works, 

Pitkin,*H.  &J.  R,  91. 

Pitkin,  Richard,  no. 
Pitkin,  WilHam  T.,  78, 

141. 
Pitkin   &  Woodbridge, 

109,  III. 
Portland,  114. 
Piatt,  Thomas,  31. 
Pruden,  John,  31. 
Putnam,  G.  P.,  41. 

Reed,  Joseph  W.,  96. 
Remmy,  John,  108. 
Ridgways,  31. 
Riddle,  Charles,  32. 
Riddle,  Dwight,  32. 
Risley,  Albert,  90. 
Robinson,  22. 
Robinson,  D.  F.,  90. 


INDEX 


151 


Robinson,    George,    23, 

78. 
Rockwood,  George,  18. 

Salem,  97. 

Sanford,   Charles,   32. 

Sanders,  John,  118. 

Schell,  Jacob,  108. 

Seabridge,  William,  31. 

Sedman,  John,  31. 

Seymour  Pottery,  119, 
120. 

Seymour,  George  Dud- 
ley, 142. 

Seymour,  Israel,  108. 

Seymour,        Nathaniel, 

84. 
Seymour,  O.H.,  QO,  gi. 
Sibley,  32,  34. 
Silliman     &    Goodrich, 

41- 

Smith,  Elbert,  92. 

Souter,  John,  90. 

Southern  Porcelain  Pot- 
tery, 108. 

Southwick,  William,  97. 

Spinner,  David,  107. 

Stuart,  Levi,  90. 

Stanley,  Elizabeth,  109. 

Stanley,  Harriet,  94. 

Stanley,  Rufus  A.,  94. 

Southwick,  James  Chap- 
man, 97. 

Taney,  Jacob,  108. 
Thatcher,  20,  21. 


Theis,  Stephen,  31,  32, 

33- 
Tittery,  Joshua,  88. 
Troxel,  Samuel,  124. 
Tudor,  Charles,  17. 
Tunicliff,  Joseph,  31. 

Umpleby,  William,  31. 
U.  S.  Pottery,  72,  73. 

Vance  Faience  Co.,  30. 
Van  Loon,  S.  D.,  93. 

Wadhams,  Jesse,  16. 
Wadsworth  Atheneum, 

136. 
Walpole  Society,   133. 
Walker,    Mrs.   W.    B., 

22,  40,  78. 
Webb,  G.  E.,  92. 
Webster,  88. 
Webster,  Anne,  86. 
Webster,  C,   88. 
Webster,  C.  T.,  90. 
Webster,    Henry,   qi. 
Webster,  McCloud,  90. 
Webster,   M.   C,   qi. 
Webster     &     Seymour, 

121. 
Wells,  William,  32. 
White,  Ralph  H.,  34. 
Whittemore,       Joseph, 

96. 
Wilcox,  32,  34. 
Wilson,  Moses,  17. 
Williams,  James,  38. 


152 


INDEX 


Williams,  Susan  F.,  87. 
Williamson,     Frederick 

J.,  50,  51,  78. 
Woodbridge,   109. 
Woodbridge,        Esther 

Wells,  no. 


Wood,  Enoch,  95. 
Woodward,  Mary,  86. 
Wray,  Leonard,  31. 
Wray,  William,  31. 


Cream  Ware,  20,  S5- 

Flint  Enamel,  38,   39,   40,  41,   57,   58,   59,   60, 

61,  62,  63,  64,  65,  66,  72,  115,  122. 
Lava,  38,  40. 
Marbled,  47. 
Parian  Ware,  20,  24,  25,  28,  33,  35,  38,  39,  40, 

41,  46,  51,  52,  53,  54,  SS>  56,  57.  7i»  72,  73. 
Red  Ware,  15,  17,  22,  42,  81,  82,  89,  98,  99. 
Rockingham,  18,  19,  20,  24,  25,  28,  31,  32,  33, 

34,  38,  39,  42,  43»  44,  7^- 
Salt-glaze,  37. 

Scrodled,  38,  47,  SS^  73,  ii5- 
Sgraffito,  104,  107,  123. 
Stone-ware,   15,  22,  24,  39,  43,  86,  92,  98,  99, 

108,  1 10,  120. 
Tulip  Ware,  104,  105. 
White  Granite,  38,  47,  54,  57. 


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